Legend of Composite: Part 3: Convergence
by SabaraOne
Summary: Composite and Hunter travel to the Sonic world to meet with their family, but they meet friends and enemies they never expected... A crossover wiht FourthWallBreaker's Maria's Adventures: Multiverse Patrol.
1. Chapter 1: Entry

**Hello readers, I'm starting a new story. This story is a crossover with FourthWallBreaker's Maria's Adventures: Multiverse Patrol. If you haven't read the Maria's Adventures series, I'd recommend reading the rest of Multiverse Patrol so you can learn the characters, and the rest of FWB's stories because FWB's the best author on the site, in my personal opinion anyway.**

 **If you're coming over from FWB, sorry I'm late, somebody wasn't paying enough attention to their email. I'll try to do better in future.**

 **So without further delay, it's storytime.**

 **Chapter 1: Entry**

 _It's a little dull-looking_ , Composite thought as the familiar sensation of Linking faded. They were behind a wood house, almost a cabin. The house and a ring-shaped collection of other houses like it were in a clearing in the middle of a forest-like grouping of stones of various sizes.

" _It's a little dull, isn't it?"_ a voice in Composite's head echoed their thoughts.

" _Yes_ Oy'an _, it is. If Camanion told us right, tis planet should be more varied. We must have gotten lucky."_ Composite responded telepathically. _Oy'an_ – or Hunter as he was often called - floated out from behind his adopted parent's head. The Metroid, a floating green brain-like creature with three red nuclei clumped in the middle and four mandibles hanging below his jelly, orbited Composite's head, looking around in a semi-instinctive search pattern. Light reflected off of the metallic strands embedded in his nuclei and jelly, the cybernetic implants allowing him to see, hear, and speak audibly.

" _I'm going to go look around a bit,"_ Hunter said. His voice sounded like a human boy around the age of ten.

" _Proceed,"_ Composite responded. Their voice was female, late teens to early twenties, with a distinct London accent.

Hunter floated around the building corner and out of sight. Composite pulled a book, quill, and ink pot out of Hammerspace. Their tail waved slightly in the breeze as they opened toe book to a blank page and began to carefully write a complex symbol on the left side. A panel slowly appeared on the right side, becoming darker as the symbol continued.

" _I'm sensing something_ Bu'ir" the Metroid announced, _"It_ seems _human, but it's a little off, I'm not quite sure how."_

" _We know,"_ Composite acknowledged, eyes darting away from their work for a moment as two teenage human females walked around the corner of the cabin, _"They're here_." Their eyes returned to their work, but their visuals were examining the image from the split-second they'd seen the girls. The one Composite had sensed had brown hair, blue eyes, jeans, and a red shirt with a design of a yellow and white ball. The other was the one that really caught Composite's attention. She was also brown haired and blue eyed, but her clothes were very different. She wore a red shirt, orange jacket, jeans, and a red and white baseball cap with a blue sawblade design. That didn't catch Composite's attention. The two things that _did_ were the group of six creatures clustered around her and the sparks of flame coming from her fingers. Both girls stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of a power-suited person behind the building.

"Khrista? That wasn't in X and Y, was it?" one of the girls asked the other. Composite's attention darted to them partway through the quote, noting that Sawblade was asking Ball.

Ball – presumably Khrista – shook her head, not taking her eyes off Composite. "I almost want to say it's Essentia, but that was post-game and the suit _definitely_ didn't have hedgehog spikes or a fox tail."

Composite continued to write, occasionally dipping their quill into the ink pot they'd secured to a belt clip. "Put it out, we don't let fire near our Books."

Sawblade paused at that, blinking in surprise at the pronouns. The sparks did stop flying from her fingers, however.

"Mom? Are these people bothering you?" Hunter asked, drifting around the corner, causing the teens to move into defensive stances.

" _Oy'an,_ what have we told you about calling us 'Mom'?" Composite responded, "And to answer your question, no, put your mandibles away."

"Sorry, _Bu'ir,_ " Hunter answered sheepishly. The mandibles under it, two on the outside about an inch long and an inner pair about half an inch long, didn't retract, but they did slump slightly, giving the impression of reduced alertness.

Sawblade swallowed. "Khrista, do you-"

"Metroid," Khrista responded, keeping her voice low. "I've seen Joshua play the game; that thing's weak to ice."

Sawblade gave a slight hum in response, nodding a little. "Gotcha."

"Sorry, be with you in a sec," Composite said, putting a final flourish on their writing before shutting the ink well and using a blotter next to it on her belt. The quill was placed next to the ink pot and the book went to the right side. They turned towards the pair, revealing a Mobian fox-like face with blue fur, and a purple muzzle. A transparent visor covered their entire face. They glanced between them before focusing on each of them individually, mostly on Sawblade and Khrista.

"Who are you?" They looked between the two of them again, "Actually, what are you?"

"What do you mean?" Sawblade asked, frowning. She shifted her stance a little, putting her right arm forward slightly.. Khrista fingered a red and white ball like the one on er shirt hung on her belt.

" _Is that a Pokeball?"_ Hunter asked telepathically.

" _It looks like one… but sis shouldn't be in the Pokemon dimension."_ Composite replied to the curious Metroid.

"Well, visually, you both _look_ human, but you," they nodded at Khrista, "seem to be some sort of human hybrid or symbiont, we can't quite tell which, and _you_ ," they turned to Sawblade, "don't seem to be wetware at all."

" _Wetware?"_ Sawblade frowned. "Why would you think I'm some computer program?" Sawblade's clothes flickered like a hologram, revealing red, orange, and gray armor before resolving into normal human clothes. Composite wondered if it was a reaction to surprise, confusion, or anger.

"Sorry, we keep forgetting that most wetwares don't like being referred to as programs. Perhaps we should introduce ourselves. We are Composite and this is _Oy'an,_ but you can call him 'Hunter,' Same name, different language."

" _Bu'ir_ sees all sentient entities as programs of some sort," Hunter piped up cheerfully, clearly enjoying the chance to explain something to someone clearly older, "'Wetware' is just their term for biologicals. They probably think you're some sort of hardware program, or possibly a cyborg," His outer mandibles spread in what was recognizable as a smile, "They also forget that most programs can't access the internet at will from anywhere in the multiverse, so they probably assume you've already discovered on your own that my name is Mandalorian, literally translating as 'The one who does the hunting,' but Hunter is easier to remember."

"You can talk?" Khrista asked, remaining in a defensive stance. "I didn't know Metroids can talk."

"Most of us can't. _Bu'ir,_ Parent, can be mother or father, gave me cybernetic enhancements that allow me to see, hear, smell, speak, and get energy from electricity. It's not as efficient as life energy and telepathy, but it's less scary for others." Hunter tilted slightly in curiosity, "So, who are you?"

Sawblade and Khrista exchanged looks at the question from the Metroid, raising eyebrows at each other.

One of the creatures around Sawblade, a bipedal fox with a stick in its tail, pushed past the two of them. It made a series of yipping sounds that Composite immediately started to try and translate, but to little effect.

"Delta!" Sawblade looked down at the fox in surprise and concern.

Composite thought for a moment before responding, "Sorry, didn't catch much of that. You must speak a language with no link to anything else we've heard."

"-And it just sounded like a dog to me, but if _Bu'ir_ says it's a language, i'm willing to leave my options open." Hunter added.

Sawblade and Khrista exchanged looks at that as the fox glared up at Hunter, paws on her hips and made a series of decidedly angry yelps.

Sawblade sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Well, you don't _seem_ dangerous." She looked over at Khrista for a moment, then back at the Mobian figure. "I'm Maria. This is Khrista, my friend, and this is Delta, one of the Pokemon that I've befriended here." She motioned to the rest of the creatures who were standing behind her - an orange, black, and white bird, a blue monkey, a butterfly with a snowfall pattern on her wings, what looked like a miniature T-Rex carved from rock, and a little figure holding an orange flower like an umbrella. "These are Tim the Fletchinder, Pour the Panpour, Vivi the Vivillon, Grimlock the Tyrunt, and Flora the Floette."

Khrista rolled her PokeBall around in one hand, as though considering releasing the Pokemon out into the open. She shook her head a moment later and replaced the PokeBall back on her belt. "So, who are you? What are you doing on Neo-Mobius?"

" _I told you it was a PokeBall,"_ Hunter said triumphantly.

" _Yes, but how? These are definitely the coordinates Camanion sent us, what are Pokemon doing here?"_

" _Neo_ -Mobius?" Composite asked, "We'll admit, we don't know as much as we should about our source world, but we're vaguely aware of Pokemon, but we're pretty sure the two worlds aren't supposed to be one…? To answer your other question, we are a hybrid of a cybernetic ally-enhanced Mobian fox and a sentient artificial intelligence."

"Mobian and AI…?" Maria's brow furrowed. She blinked a couple times at the reference to the other's source world and being aware of Pokemon, and her brow furrowed even more so.

"You still haven't given us a name." Khrista frowned.

"Sorry, the name's Composite. Either that or Ada depending on our form."

Meanwhile, Hunter had started to drift down and towards the Pokemon. Noting this, Composite stated firmly "Back!" Hunter skittered back to his place behind Composite's shoulder. " _These people are still jumpy, especially around Metroids, any funny business and they might attack."_ Audibly they add, "Sorry, he's still young and curious."

"Form?" Khrista prompted.

"Right," Composite popped up into the air about a foot. A vortex of green energy surrounded them. When it dispelled, Composite had been replaced by Ada Hopper, a human female with blue eyes and slightly longer than shoulder length loose blonde hair, blue jeans and a black T-shirt reading

 **This shirt is classified as a munition and may not be exported from the United States, or shown to a foreign national.**

Followed by a long listing of what looked like computer code. She drifted down to the ground. Her writing implements were still at their belt. "Don't mind the shirt," she commented, "That sorted itself out around 2000 or so in our home dimension. We'll be happy to explain the history at a later date."

"...whoa." Maria blinked a couple times at the sight of the transformation, her eyebrows shooting up.

Khrista appeared surprised as well for a moment, then shook her head and snorted. "Joshua'd get a kick out of it. I bet he knows whether or not that's something to be worried about back home."

"I doubt it's anything _to_ worry about," Maria responded. She looked Composite up and down, cocking her head to one side. "So, what are you doing here? You definitely look like you don't belong in this dimension, or like you're anything that those Team Flare goons I've been chasing could put together."

"Doubt you need to worry about something like us at home, wherever that is. As far as we know, the company that made us only exists in one dimension. And they didn't develop the technology that allows our Mobian and AI components to fuse. In fact, we're here to meet the person who did. Our sister, Camanion. The company Fcon designed us for world domination. We introduced their containment jar to a shotgun, deleted half of their security force and escaped to another dimension using Chaos Control." Ada crossed her arms over her chest, glowed with a soft white light for a moment, and reverted to the armored form. "As for Team Flare.." They glanced off into the distance for a moment. Maria thought she could see something other than the outside world reflected in Composite's pupils, "Oh, here it is… Tried to take over this region… awaken these Legendaries - what's a Legendary…? Right, should have guessed…" They refocused on the present conversation, "Right. First rate scum. Last time we read about a group like them, they ended up in the rainforest with nothing but the clothes on their backs."

Maria's eyebrows shot up as Composite listed off the events that brought her into existence, on top of the fact that they were aware of Team Flare. "You know…? I'm guessing you didn't play the games like Khrista did, then."

"You had the option to, too," Khrista pointed out. "And you still figured out what they're going to be up to faster than most people."

"Well, 'most people' can't talk to the Sigilyph that live down the route with the graveyard that we came up." Maria motioned back to the southern entrance that led into the small town. She paused. "Speaking of which, we'd better get moving and keep knocking Team Flare out of Kalos before they actually get around to doing something stupid; I don't want to stick around in places for too long if it means they get more time."

"…to…" Tim chirped. Composite assumed there was more to it, but she couldn't translate anything else.

"Thanks, Tim." Maria nodded to the Fletchinder, then looked over at Composite. "If you know about what's going on here already, then you could give us a hand taking Team Flare out if you wanted to. I bet we could find a way to get into contact with Camanion when we circle back to Lumiose or happen to find any of the other Mobians who are around, too."

"Maria, are you sure this is a good idea?" Khrista frowned. "We haven't seen anything like Composite before, it might not be-"

"If they were here to do anything that could hurt us, I would have gotten a vision by now," Maria replied, frowning at Khrista. "And besides, my Guildmaster instincts would have acted up if they were really here to cause ill will. We should be all right."

"Actually, we didn't know that information, we were reading a wiki in real time. Being able to connect to the internet in another dimension is a useful ability. But if you want us to come along," Composite floated up about an inch on a green-white cushion of energy, "We'd be happy to oblige. Besides, we just got here, so we were going to explore a bit anyway. We were just jotting down a quick Link in case we needed to get back to this dimension in a hurry. It's faster than getting coordinates."

"Link?" Maria frowned a little at that. "You mean, what you were doing in that book just now, right? How is that faster than keeping it all in your head?"

"In fact, yes. We have to swap some very long streams of numbers in and out of our execution memory. It's also easier to bring people along using a Linking Book." They grabbed their book from their belt and opened it to a page before turning it around. The left page had a complex symbol written on it, and the right side had what can only be described as a window into another dimension, "You just put your hand on the panel and away you go. The only downsides are that you have to be in the location you want to Link to when you write the symbol, and it only works between dimensions, you can't Link from one part of a dimension to another. Most Books don't follow their users, but ours does. Took us a while to set that up. A few months in fact."

Maria's eyebrows shot up at the sight of the book, and she looked between it and Composite for a moment before blurting out, "Holy scrap! You're a World Jumper!" The wide grin that crossed her face a moment later made Khrista look at her with a startled expression.

"World Jumper… Has a nice ring to it," Composite thought for a moment before adding, "We like TSR Jumper. Time/Space/Reality. Plus there's an old technical joke in there, but you'd have to either be an old-timer or be a retro nerd like Camanion to get it."

Khrista raised an eyebrow at that as Maria's eyes almost seemed to spark with an infinite amount of eagerness. "Huh."

"I didn't think I'd get to cross paths with someone else who travels across dimensions!" Maria laughed. "This is so awesome! I've got so many questions."

"Bug them about them later; we've got that next town to get to, remember?" Khrista nudged Maria in the side. "Shalour City? With the Fighting-Type Gym and the Mega Evolution stuff?"

Maria's excited grin faded a little at that. "Oh yeah. Right." The grin came back, but she was less excited now, more determined. "You wanted to have a look around, Composite? We've only just started traveling around Kalos, so you'll see a lot of the region if you travel around with us." The determination softened into a hopeful sort of expression. "O-only if you feel like coming along, that is."

Composite and Hunter glanced at each other. _"Can we,_ Bu'ir?"

" _We don't see why not. They probably know more about the environment then we do."_

The two turned back to the girls. Composite shrugged and Hunter's mandibles bobbed in a similar expression, "Sure, why not? Camanion probably doesn't even know we're in-dimension yet. The communication equipment we use apparently doesn't work in-dimension either, even though it's based on the same D'ni technology as the Books." It was pronounced 'Dunny,' "She mustn't have done an especially great job reverse engineering it. A problem we'll correct at a later date. And even if she does know, she won't miss us. We didn't really set a time or anything, temporal flow differences and all. And if anyone wants to fight along the way, we'll give them more than they bargained for."

"If you want to do that, you're probably going to need a Pokemon and stay in that more human form of yours, unless you can hide your armor," Khrista responded. She glanced over at Maria for a moment before looking back at Composite. "Maria and I both have some pretty good connections with Pokemon around the world; we could probably get you a Pokemon that you could train and work with while you're here, at least."

"I _would_ ask if anyone from the PokeExplore Guild - a Guild of Pokemon that I lead - would want to work with you, but my PokeDex is region-locked, so I can't bring over any Pokemon that aren't native to Kalos or over a certain level," Maria added. "If you want to take one on, I'm sure that there a number of Pokemon who would be more than interested in having a Trainer."

"Huh. So most fights happen by proxy in this dimension…" Composite glanced into space for a bit more reading for a second, "Non-lethal by proxy. Not the kind we're used to. We'll have to think about it.," Composite transformed back into Ada with a swirl of energy, "You can call me Ada in this form. And for the record, we can't hide our armor without transforming. Honestly we're not sure what that would look like apart from a swirl of red data cubes, and deactivating our fusion isn't really an option. We've only done it once, and that wasn't voluntary. An accident with a backfiring EMP. Same surge knocked out the fire sensors in the area, so we had to do some fast talking to get out of a medical exam by the local paramedics when the halon went off."

Maria's mouth became more of a straight line when she heard Composite's comment on how they weren't used to what sorts of fights happened in their present dimension. She winced when the other added the mention of an EMP. "Ouch. I'd rather not imagine what _that_ must've felt like."

Khrista's nose scrunched up a little. "Me neither, and I've gotten myself shocked more than enough times by Pikachu to know Thundershocks are definitely more painful than most people let on." She motioned towards the stone arch that was a short distance away from where they were standing. "If you want to think about it, Ada, we're going to have to walk through a trail of wild Pokemon in order to get to the next town over, anyway. There's a cave coming up, too - Reflection Cave. Should be some interesting Pokemon hiding in there."

Tim groaned. "I … the …"

"I know how you feel, Tim, but something tells me this cave is our only way to get to Shalour." Maria glanced at Khrista, who nodded. "All right, then. You good to go, Ada?"

"Caves… We can work with that. We've had to sleep in a few of those during our time with the D'ni," Ada's pupils flickered through green, orange, blue, and light gray for a second, though her irises stayed their normal piercing blue, "And seeing in the dark isn't a problem."

"I'm ready, not that you asked," Hunter added petulantly.

"Plus, it can't be much worse than Sector 1 on BSL. At least in these caves we shouldn't be constantly fending off Hornoad-Xs intent on infecting us, not that they could."

Maria and Khrista exchanged confused looks at that, as did Maria's team behind them.

"...yeah, there's nothing dangerous like that around here," Maria said. "The worst we're going to run into are Trainers and wild Pokemon, and we can take care of them."

" _Non-lethally,"_ Khrista added pointedly.

"We can handle that. Probably. Have to do a little reconfiguration, but it shouldn't be too hard. And all he has to do is refrain from chewing on people and not ram so hard." Ada experimentally holds out two fingers stiffly and makes a few jabs at around head level before trying a pinching motion, "Yeah, we can do this."

Glossary of _Mando'a_ terms

 _Bu'ir_ : Parent, Mother, Father

 _Oy'an_ : Hunter (name)


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, sorry I'm late. My email client is a bit weird, so of course it decided not to notify me when FWB uploaded. I'll have to work on that little thing. Anyway, on with the chapter.**

 **Chapter 2**

Ada and Hunter, not unexpectedly, knew almost nothing about Pokemon battles, leading Khrista to have to pull her back multiple times when a tourist demanded a battle. Maria and Khrista also explained that Team Flare's plans had to do with the stones outside of the previous town, which were a Pokemon graveyard, or more specifically the weapon that had created the graveyard in question.

The two girls also told about how they'd come from another dimension themselves to help Neo-Mobius multiple times in the past, and how Mobius and the Pokemon world had fused, and how now Mobians, Humans, and Pokemon lived together, albeit with a small Mobian population due to most of them being in the distant past.

"You know, a Legendary Pokémon named Diancie lives in Reflection Cave," Khrista commented as they came out the other side of the cave. "She's a Fairy/Rock-Type and looks like she has a dress made of diamonds."

"Hm." Maria cocked her head to one side at that, eyebrows rising up a little in interest. "I'll have to go back there and see if I can speak with her later, then. I didn't see any Team Flare goons in there, so she should be okay for now." She looked ahead at the buildings that were ahead of them, with what appeared to be a tall tower in the distance, and grinned. "This must be Shalour, then! And it's only about noon, too - I can get to the Gym and take Korrina on without running out of daylight!"

"If nothing else, it's a good chance to learn more about the way Pokemon battles work," Ada commented.

"And if we run into any Flare grunts we can probably get some information. I'm not very experienced in such things, but even I know that good intel is essential to forming a plan of attack." Hunter chimed in.

"Thanks for the input, but Khrista and I know already how things work in this dimension and what Pokemon Types are good against what," Maria replied. She started down the stone path and into the main part of town. "Okay, let's see...a-ha! There it is!"

Maria led Ada and the others towards a rather ornate-looking building in a far corner of the town, with pillars and a large dome over the top. There was a man standing in front of the entrance with a bow tie.

Maria frowned as they came up to the entrance. "You're the Gym Guide, right? What are you doing out here?"

"I'm afraid that the Gym Leader is undergoing some intensive training on top of the Tower of Mastery." The man motioned to the large, imposing tower that was rising up over the coast. "You'll have to wait for her to come back if you want to challenge her."

Ada started to step forward to give the Guide a piece of her mind, and probably a piece of her arsenal, but stopped herself before even taking her foot off the ground.

Maria frowned, then nodded. "All right. Thanks for the info." She started to turn, then paused and looked at the Guide again. "The Tower of Mastery - does it have any connections to Mega Evolution?"

The Guide blinked at that, then nodded. "Well, yes, but most Trainers who go in attempting to master Mega Evolution don't pass the guru's test for a Key Stone. I doubt that you will be able to pass that test."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to try, right?" Maria looked over at Khrista with a confident smirk, then motioned for Ada and the rest of the group to follow after her. "Come on - let's go have a look at this Tower of Mastery."

" _Does this Guru have anything to do with Amigas?"_ Hunter asked Ada telepathically.

" _No, if it had he would have said, besides, what did we tell you about spending so much time reading about old computers?"_ came the response.

Maria led the group down a set of stairs onto a well-tamped beach, then up a path to the tall tower that stood close to the coast and a short distance away from the town. A large wall ran around the strangely-shaped, but mostly circular tower, and the group passed by a small number of houses as they climbed up a set of stairs to the entrance.

Maria paused at the entrance, then looked at the others. "You guys ready?"

"Why are you asking us?" Khrista raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who's going to be taking this test."

"Well, yeah, I guess." Maria rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish expression. "Still, though, we don't know what we're going to run into."

"Well, we don't plan on attacking anything, Right _Oy'an?_ " Ada shot a glance at the Metroid, who gave the impression of trying to look overly innocent, "And if it comes to it, we're both good at dodging."

Maria and Khrista exchanged looks at that, then stepped into the Tower of Mastery, followed by Maria's team and Ada.

The inside of the tower was a large, tall circular chamber with a spiral staircase going up the wall. In the center was what looked like a large, dog-like creature standing on two legs with spikes coming from the top of its feet, back of its front paws, and one on its chest. There also appeared to be a door in the platform the statue was standing on, with a strange symbol carved on it that looked similar to DNA.

"Lucario?" Maria frowned. "Hm. It looks like Lucario is closer to Mega Evolution than I thought."

Maria looked around for a moment, then crossed the floor towards the door on the platform. She put a hand up towards it, paused for a moment, then nodded to herself and pushed the door open.

On the other side of the door was a small room that appeared to be a simple bedroom and study. Standing in it was an old man and a young woman wearing roller skates and with her bright yellow hair sticking out in two pigtails through the back of her helmet.

The man turned and looked at Maria as Khrista and Ada stood behind her. "Oh? You must be Maria, then. Sycamore told me you would be coming. I'm called the Mega Evolution guru. I guess you could say I'm an acquaintance of his. That isn't my real name, of course." He motioned for her to come closer. "Come here for a moment, will you?"

Maria stepped into the room, Khrista and Ada following after her, which caused the guru to incline his head.

"Three of you?" he asked. "I was only informed that there was only one other traveling with you - Khrista?"

Khrista nodded. "This is Ada; we ran into her in Geosenge. She's going to be traveling around with us for a while."

"Oh, don't mind me, I don't count," Hunter complained petulantly, obviously feeling left out.

The guru and the woman both jumped at Hunter's voice, the woman reaching towards one of the red and white PokeBalls on her belt.

"That Pokemon can speak?" The woman asked in surprise.

"Actually...it isn't one," Maria replied. "It's a creature from another dimension - er, _he,_ I guess. Ada said his name is Hunter. He's what's called a Metroid."

"Though most of us can't talk either. The only reason I can is because _Bu'ir_ built cybernetic implants for me," Hunter angled his body slightly so that the light reflects off of a network of metal filaments running like veins through his nuclei and jelly.

The guru and the woman both looked as though they weren't sure what to make of what Hunter had just said.

"Perhaps we should continue talking outside of this room," the guru said carefully. "It is going to be far too cramped in my personal study."

Maria nodded and backed up out of the room, giving the guru and the woman space to step out themselves.

"I'm glad you could make it to Shalour City so quickly, Maria." The woman grinned widely. "My Lucario are in their PokeBalls, but they're definitely interested in you and glad that you're here."

"I'm glad I'm here too, Korrina." Maria grinned and chuckled a little as they moved to stand in a small circle in front of the Lucario statue.

"I assume that you are not only here to battle my granddaughter in a Gym Battle, but also to learn about Mega Evolution, correct?" the guru asked.

Ada glanced around and made sure she wasn't close enough to the statue for it to fall on her. Maria noticed the action and frowned a little, then shook her head and looked back at the guru.

"Yeah, that's right." Maria cocked her head slightly, frowning a little. "I know that it was something that kind of got the jump on this dimension after Cyrus' Second Attempt, so I'm mostly in the dark about it. Khrista knows some of what's going on with it, though."

"Ah." The guru nodded. "So I see. And I assume that you are more than aware of what regular Pokemon Evolution is and what it is that it is capable of."

"Well, yeah; every Trainer knows that." Maria shrugged one shoulder. "It's an abrupt change that a Pokemon undergoes when he, she, or it reaches a certain level of power. Some need specific items, though, and there are some that can't evolve at all."

"Others need times of day, close bonds with their Trainers, or specific areas," Khrista added.

"And then there are the ones who decide against evolving," Maria said pointedly.

"Exactly so," the guru responded.

"Mega Evolution is an Evolution that transcends that," Korrina grinned.

"Indeed! Mega Evolution is a transformation of Pokémon that were thought to be unable to evolve any further! It is a whole new level of power!" The guru made a wide motion, as though he was trying to encompassing the tower.

"That comes with its own problems, I'm assuming," Maria said.

Korrina nodded. "Well, of course; that kind of power can be dangerous, considering that it causes a large influx of power. But with a strong bond between Trainer and Pokémon, it's possible to learn to control it. Not all Pokémon can do something like that, though."

"There is a reason why I used the word "transformation" a moment ago," the guru spoke up. "Mega Evolution differs from Evolution because it ends after a certain amount of time. In other words, it is a temporary Evolution."

"So it only lasts…a certain number of minutes? Hours?" Maria raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Depending on why the Pokémon Mega Evolved, I believe the maximum is 45 minutes," the guru replied. "Most Pokémon only last as long as a battle does, however, to keep Pokémon from exhausting themselves. That said, we know very little about it, especially since this only came into effect after the Second Attempt. What we know now is that it requires special items. And the most important element, as has already been said, is the trust between Pokémon and Trainer. That bond is required in order for the Mega Evolution to work, as well as two items: a Mega Stone for the Pokémon and the Mega Ring, which has a mysterious stone called the Key Stone set in it, for the Trainer."

Maria nodded at that. "I see. Conduits for energy to pass, essentially."

"Essentially, yes." The guru nodded. "Considering that you are a Champion five times over already and are traveling through our region, I would like to give this Mega Ring to you, Maria. However—"

"You have to beat me in a Gym battle first!" Korrina finished. She gave a bright, wide grin. "And I'm looking forward to seeing how well you'd be able to handle my team with the team that you have now! I'll be waiting for you back at the Gym."

With that, the Gym Leader skated out of the Tower, leaving the others behind.

Maria looked at Khrista and raised an eyebrow curiously; Khrista gave a nod in response. A grin crossed Maria's face a moment later. "All right then. Let's go – I've got a Gym Leader to challenge!"

"Uh, other than the skill of the opponent, is there any difference between a Gym battle and a normal Trainer battle?" Ada asked, not one to miss an opportunity to learn something new.

"It's part of a competition for Trainers," Maria explained as the group stepped out of the Tower of Mastery. "Trainers as a rule of thumb like to have something to aim for, like being the strongest. The League was set up in order to prove who the strongest is in any given region of the world, and when you beat it, you become a certified Champion of that particular region." She grinned. "Trainers have to beat eight Gyms, then go to the League headquarters for the region and beat the top Elite Four Trainers and the current Champion or Champion stand-in. I've already done that five other times in other regions, and the Gym here is the third one out of eight that I can challenge."

"Maria is basically going to be going through an obstacle course in order to get to the Gym Leader - Korrina, in this case - battling Trainers who are apprenticing under her," Khrista explained. "If she fails to beat Korrina, she can come back and challenge her multiple times."

"But I can only fight Gym Leaders once a day, so if I can't beat Korrina, I'll probably spend the rest of the day training somewhere near here," Maria added.

"But apart from being more structured and harder to get to, the Gym battles themselves are the same as a normal Trainer battle?" Composite asks.

"Pretty much, yeah." Maria shrugged. "They kinda had to set it up this way because otherwise it'd be total chaos across the regions, with Trainers battling each other constantly in an argument over who was the strongest. We could have ended up having a war on our hands if the Leagues weren't set up to give Trainers a better idea of who to aim for and what sorts of guidelines they have to follow in order to get there."

"That would be a bad thing," Ada stated, "I may not be one who does much in the way of non-lethal, but even I can agree that war is a very bad thing that should be avoided."

The group soon reached the main part of Shalour again, and when Maria made a beeline back to the Gym, the Guide was no longer standing at the entrance.

"Our path is open." Maria grinned and rubbed her hand together. "Time to challenge the next Gym!" She looked over at her team. "You guys ready to roll?"

There came determined battle cries from the various Pokemon in response, which only caused Maria's grin to widen.

"Then let's go!" She promptly charged into the Gym, her team returning to their PokeBalls in streams of red light as she burst through the doors, Khrista, Ada, and Hunter right behind her.

The inside of the Gym looked like a large skating rink, with rails that led to various platforms on the inside of the outer rink. There was a raised platform in the center with the PokeBall symbol on it, but no way to get to it.

And Korrina was standing on that platform, hands on her hips and a wide grin on her face.

Maria stopped just on the edge of the rink and frowned, putting her hands on her hips as Ada, Hunter, and Khrista came up behind her. "Hmm...roller skate mechanics, huh? Well, since I'm too heavy for those...Korrina, I'm using a hoverboard in here! Skates won't exactly sit well with me!"

"What, seriously?!" Korrina looked at Maria with a wide-eyed look. "Why's that?"

"It's because I'm a walking bundle of metal and gears and I'd squish any skates that I might get!" Maria reached onto her back as her holographic clothes flickered, and she pulled out of nowhere what looked like a red and orange metal box. The box unfolded a moment later, turning into a metal board of some kind.

Maria threw the board out in front of her, and it stopped in mid-air before it could hit the ground. She jumped onto it a moment later and shot off into the skating rink, catching up with one of the four skating Trainers in the Gym in no time at all.

Khrista cocked her head to one side slightly. "All right; let's see how quickly she can get through this Gym."

The following four battles between Maria's team - mostly Delta and Vivi - and the four Trainers in the Gym went by rather quickly, and it was also quite clear as to who exactly it was that was in a far better position team-wise. Purple-pink waves of energy slammed into the rather muscular-looking, humanoid Pokemon that were sent out by the Gym Trainers, knocking them out in one or two hits before they could deal any significant damage to Maria's team. With each fight, a section of railing rose up between Korrina's platform and the outer rink. By the time that Maria had defeated the final Pokemon on the fourth Trainer's team - a large, round sort of Pokemon that looked like a sumo wrestler - the railing was complete.

Maria let out a laugh as Delta returned to her PokeBall. "Whoo! That took hardly any time at all!"

"Maria, that was a good half hour!" Khrista called back.

"Was it really?" Maria laughed again as she maneuvered herself to one end of the railing. "I always lose track of time when I get into stuff like this." She jumped onto the railing, the hoverboard screeching against it as it slid across the thin metal to Korrina's platform.

"Yeah, 28 minutes and 35.62 seconds," Ada commented, "Subtract 15.37 seconds if you're going from when you engaged the first Trainer instead of when you entered the rink."

"Huh." Maria's eyebrows shot up at that. She shrugged a moment later. "Not exactly a new record for me, but that was definitely pretty quick."

"And impressive," Korrina added. "I don't think I've had Trainers come through my Gym so fast before." She grinned. "You'd better be ready, though, because now it's time for Lady Korrina's big appearance! Let's get this show on the road! Mienfoo, go!"

"Delta, let's do this!"

The Braixen popped out of her PokeBall seconds after a little red and yellow, mongoose-like Pokémon, who instantly moved into a martial arts-like stance.

Delta eyed her opponent with a curious expression before she snorted and pulled the stick out of her tail. She waved it around, gathering purple-pink energy on the tip before shooting a beam of it at Meinfoo.

Her opponent ran right into it, only to come out on the other side looking strangely battered before punching Delta in the nose and retreating back a short distance.

"Ow!" Delta rubbed her nose and winced as Korrina pulled out what looked like a purple spray bottle and spritzed Mienfoo, causing the Pokemon to suddenly look much more energetic.

"Keep those Psybeams going," Maria encouraged. "That Fighting-Type doesn't look like it has all that much defense."

"Hit that Braixen with another Power-Up Punch!" Korrina declared, pointing towards Delta rather dramatically.

Mienfoo lunged for Delta again, only to get hit in the face with another Psybeam. This time, the attack sent it whirling on one foot, and the mongoose-like Pokemon collapsed.

"Let's give Vivi a turn!" Maria quickly switched Delta for Vivi as Korrina exchanged the knocked-out Mienfoo for a larger, humanoid, muscular Pokemon. "A Machoke, huh? Psybeam it!"

"Rock Tomb!" Korrina countered with a confident tone.

The Psybeam hit the Machoke in the face, but the Fighting-Type shook it off before slamming his hands into the ground. The platform rumbled underneath Vivi before exploding up with a shower of rocks and boulders.

"Ow!" Vivi winced, pulling back and away from the boulders. It looked like the butterfly Pokemon was having a difficult time staying in the air.

"One more Psybeam," Maria encouraged. "You can do it - you've got him on the ropes and you're faster too!"

"Bu'ir, _did you catch that?"_ Hunter asked telepathically.

" _Yes, though understanding a cry of pain isn't all that hard. We're starting to get the language. We should have it down soon."_

The second Psybeam did indeed hit the Machoke right in the chest and sent him stumbling back. He tried valiantly in order to stay upright, but he gave out and completely collapsed.

"All right, Vivi; pull back!" Maria returned the Vivillon and switched for Delta again.

"Hawlucha, go!" Korrina released her third Pokemon, which looked like a bird Pokemon of some kind with a mask over his face. "Hone Claws!"

Hawlucha started scraping his clawed hands together, somehow managing to grin around his beak.

"I…" Delta waved her stick again, yelping something Ada didn't catch, and this time solid purple chunks formed around where Hawlucha was standing before slamming into the Pokemon.

"Gah!" The Hawlucha stumbled back before shaking his head, eyes narrowing at Delta. "You... Flying..."

Hawlucha leapt up into the air and slammed down on top of Delta, causing her to cry out in pain as she was pressed against the ground. He jumped up and almost seemed to glide back to his original position in front of Korrina a moment later, allowing for Delta to get up to her feet.

Delta gripped her side with one paw and hissed in pain before glaring at Hawlucha. She waved her stick in his face and set off another Psybeam, causing him to squawk in surprise before collapsing, paws pressed down on where his ears probably were.

Korrina returned Hawlucha to his PokeBall with a pained gasp. "Oh! I have been defeated! Alack, alay! Lady Korrina gave a terrible display!" Korrina put a hand to her forehead and feigned fainting, getting a laugh from Maria in response. "This is it. I must give up my title and admit that your strength far exceeds—" She laughed, standing upright again. "Just teasing! But here's your Rumble Badge. Boy, you'll be rolling in 'em soon if you aren't already!"

Maria accepted the glinting piece of metal with a laugh, smirking a little at the two clashing fists that made up the symbol.

"You know the drill by now – Pokémon as high as Level 50 will obey you if they're traded, and you can use the HM Surf now, too! And here – a little extra gift from me." Korrina handed over an orange disk, on which the number "TM 98" was placed for all to see. "It's Power-Up Punch; you saw my Meinfoo use it. It does exactly as it says – it powers up a Pokémon's attack power when they slam into their opponent!"

"Sweet!" Maria's eyebrows shot up. "I can think of a few Pokémon who would be more than willing to use this! Thanks!"

Korrina gave a laugh, only for her grin to fade a moment later. "Look…I do have to apologize. You'll have to make it up to the top of the Tower of Mastery if you want the Mega Ring. I'm sorry for sending you this way and that. I swear, I'm not giving you the runaround! You've done great tolling with the punches. So great that I'd like to ask you a favor…"

"What kind of favor?" Maria cocked her head to one side curiously.

"Battle me again, won't you? But this time, it won't be just another Gym Battle. I want a battle between equals! As two Trainers who can use Mega Evolution! I'll be waiting for you with Lucario at the top of the Tower of Mastery!"

With that, Korrina skated off the platform and down a rail to the entrance of the Gym. Maria followed after her a moment later on her hoverboard.

"Well, Ada, Hunter what'd you think?" Maria smirked as she came to a stop in front of her, Hunter, and Khrista. "You got to see some Type Advantage strategy and how a Gym Challenge is done!"

"Yes, and it was quite informative. I'm familiar with the concept of a type advantage, but mostly only in the linear 'weapon triangle' format. I get the feeling that the types around here are more complex than that though," Ada replied.

"Yeah, I'm curious about that too," Hunter adds, "Of course I'm curious about most things, so I didn't mention it."

Maria laughed. "There's seventeen Types total-"

"Eighteen," Khrista corrected. "You're forgetting that Fairy-Types were discovered recently."

"Right, right." Maria rolled her eyes at Khrista, who did the same in return. "Anyway, each Type has at least one weakness and one strength, and some of them have immunities to certain Types - Ghost-Types, for example, can't be harmed by Normal-Type attacks, like Tackle or Quick Attack. And Normal-Types can't be harmed by Ghost-Type attacks like Astonish or Shadow Ball. It can be a bit difficult to keep up with all the Type match-ups - especially since some Pokemon can be of _two_ Types - but it's something that makes battles even more interesting."

"Like how in the battle, Maria's Pokemon were using Psychic-Type attacks, which are strong against Fighting-Types," Khrista added. "It's the brain vs. brawn idea, basically."

"Okay, that one I can understand fine. Used it on occasion too. Never underestimate the calming effect that slamming an angry thug into a wall a few times can have. _Especially_ when the slamming is done without so much as moving a finger."

Khrista laughed. There was a darker undertone to it that made Maria look at her with a cautious expression. "Oh, I know _that_ feeling _really_ well. Comes with the territory of being who I am."

"Who you are?" Ada repeated.

Khrista smirked. "Yeah. I've got access to all eighteen Types and can become a mix of two of them whenever I feel like it."

"That sounds like a mixed blessing. And speaking of telekinesis," Ada extended the index finger of her right hand and spun her wrist. Hunter, glowing a white-green color, whirled around in a circle and flew into a stone wall with a squeal of surprise. He took the impact, using the wall to springboard and slam into Ada, sending both of them tumbling. "Good! You're getting better at that. He's been having trouble with reacting to that sort of attack," She stood up, brushed the dust off her shirt and pushed her hair back behind her ears.

Khrista's and Maria's eyebrows rose at the sudden psychic display.

"Impressive," Khrista commented. "That might explain why there were so many Psychic-Type Pokemon coming close to us in Reflection Cave - your psychic abilities must've attracted their attention."

"I thought it was odd that the Wobbuffet got so close," Maria muttered.

"That makes sense, though most of my psionic powers are telekinetic in nature. I'm mostly only able to communicate telepathically with other telepaths, which is part of how Hunter survived his first meeting with Samus. I told him to get behind me before he got his implants, so he couldn't speak to her."

"Huh." Khrista inclined her head a little at that, then nodded. "I'll have to see if you can learn some of the techniques Pokemon can use, maybe, like the Psyshock that Delta used."

"We don't have to do it if you don't want to, though," Maria added. "Speaking of Delta, though, we should probably swing by the Pokemon Center so that I can heal up my team. I don't know what's going to happen when we head back to the Tower of Mastery, and I want to make sure that I'm ready for whatever's coming."

Ada nodded, "That goes for any form of combat, or anything else really. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, at least I think that's how you humans say it."

"Eh...maybe?" Maria shrugged. "I never really heard that saying before, but there's probably a lot of sayings out there that I haven't heard yet."

"You should hear all the Mandalorian words for 'idiot,'" Hunter said happily. Ada wisely hushed him before he could start listing them off.

The group left the Gym and stopped by the Pokemon Center as Maria had requested, then made their way back to the Tower of Mastery. As soon as they entered it, they caught sight of the guru coming out of his study.

"Ah! Korrina, I mean, the Mega Evolution successor, is waiting for you." The guru motioned toward the circular staircase. "You'll find a balcony at the top of the tower. She's waiting for you there."

"Thanks." Maria gave a nod in response and started towards the stairs. Ada, Hunter, and Khrista tried to follow her, but the guru moved in front of them.

"I'm afraid that this is something your friend will have to do alone," the guru said seriously. "You will have to wait for her down here."

Khrista frowned at that, but she didn't seem to be too disappointed. She simply nodded instead. "All right. Then that's what we'll do." She watched as Maria started climbing up around the circular stairway at a fast rate before she quickly disappeared from sight. After a moment, she looked over at Ada and Hunter. "So, besides the Metroid universe, where have you been?"

"Well… I was created in the dimension you would call Tron. Specifically, the timeline from the old Tron 2.0 video game. I've reviewed the events of both the 2.0 and Legacy timelines, and personally I prefer 2.0, but I'm probably biased. Once I broke out of Fcon's lab, I entered their computer system and fought through several systems. Not really sure what I was looking for other than escape. After about thirty seconds - the equivalent of a few hours in meatspace, I was attacked by Fcon's Seeker worms. I derezed four of them, but eight more sprung up. I'm not sure how they managed to not hang the computer, they use so much resources. But anyway, about that time I instinctively used Chaos Control to escape to a dimension from a series of computer games called Myst, which oddly exists in the dimension it takes place in, though the story behind the game's existence is a little different. That's where I got the Books I use."

"Tron and...Myst?" Khrista frowned. "I'm familiar with what happens with Tron normally, but I don't think I've heard of Myst before." She paused. "Are you saying you got your ability to travel between dimensions from there, basically?"

"Mostly. I can in theory use Chaos Control to travel between dimensions, but it's pretty instinctive and I can't control the destination. Usually I have a sort of constantly regenerating reservoir of Chaos energy, but I don't seem to have that here. My theory is that there's a connection to the presence of Chaos Emeralds in this dimension. Mostly I use Books, easier to control."

"But you said you need to be in a location before you can write one," Khrista pointed out.

"For Linking Books, yes, but if that were the case, how could the D'ni connect to any new Ages - The worlds the Books link to - especially since they're currently on homeworld number three, the first one's sun went nova and the second was virtually exterminated in a biowar attack," the last part almost growled, "The surviving D'ni evacuated a mere two or three hundred years before the humans discovered the D'ni caverns under modern-day New Mexico. But anyway, the D'ni discover new Ages by writing them in larger books using a technique called 'The Art,'" Ada reached behind her back and pulled a large book out of thin air.

"So, you have subspace too," Khrista said, raising an eyebrow.

"We just call it Hammerspace, but if it's what Maria got her hoverboard out of, then yes, same concept. But anyway, this is a Descriptive Book," Ada telekinetically held the book, which was significantly larger than the average dictionary, in midair and flipped it open. The first page held the Linking Panel. She turned the pages, showing page after page of carefully written calligraphy. "This Book links to our first - and so far only - Age, Awakening. Because the multiverse has a sense of humor, it happens to be the game probably known on your world as Elite: Dangerous. This dimension is where we really got to know our sisters because they appear as Ghost Ships."

"Ghost Ships?" Khrista repeated. She frowned a little at that. "Wait...a game. That means they're like avatars here in this dimension-real people, but not quite all there most of the time, even if their teams are."

"Yeah, Ghost Ships are indistinguishable from normal starships except that all of their callsigns are prefixed by 'CMDR' and they have no visible pilots. We first met our sisters, Camanion the Mobian and Risa, her AI creation in a video chat in Fcon's systems, but we didn't really get to know them until this dimension because they play the game. A lot. Camanion's working on a holopresence VR system so that she can more directly interact with passengers and such. That'll probably involve flying to some distant system so that I can more easily escape the burglary charge when I break into her ship and install the kit." She flipped the Book shut and pointed to.a symbol on the front, "That's the Elite Dangerous logo. No Idea how I did that. So after that Camanion told me to check out a dimension from her favorite magazine humor column, and that's where I spend most of my time - never mind the fact that I've spent about six months there, six months in Elite Dangerous and a year on and around Myst. It's a pretty normal Earth except for a few computer centers, the differences being of the sort you _really_ don't want to know about. So after that, I spent a month in the Metroid dimension, specifically Metroid Fusion. Spent another week back home, and now I'm here. According to Camanion I've been around for just over a year objective time. She claims she did something like calculate the differences in timeflow, but I'm pretty sure she just compared the timestamps on files from the time of my breakout and the files being created at the time she told me that. Fcon cracked into her home network to lift Risa's code and her genome to create me, and she turned right around and sliced into their network. Of course the question has to be asked about how Fcon found out about them."

"Yeah, definitely…." Khrista frowned. "She could be tracking the time that's passing in your home dimension; that's how Maria's keeping track of how old we are. Technically, she's six years older than the rest of us because originally Neo-Mobius was in a faster dimension than ours - a year here was a day there. Maria spent a year running around on the purely Pokemon side of the world as a Vulpix - a six-tailed fire fox, but not the internet browser - for a year before she challenged the Leagues for five years, so she's technically 23, not 18. After the Second Attempt, time flow here could have changed though...especially since Cyrus probably all but stopped it while he was on top." Her frown deepened, and she bared her teeth in something that resembled a scowl.

"Second Attempt?" Ada's eyes became distant for a moment, and she frowned when they refocused. "I'm not aware of any sort of event like that here."

"It's something specific to this dimension." Khrista huffed. "Cyrus - the guy who led Team Galactic - got stopped by Maria a few years back. His plan _had_ been to wipe out anything that made humans imperfect, which in _his_ mind was the spirit of mankind. Knowledge, Emotion, Willpower - he wanted to get rid of it. He failed the first time, but he succeeded the second time and basically turned the world into a dead zone. He wanted to suck Maria into it, too, but she was off in another dimension and couldn't be reached. So he ended up getting me and Maria's siblings instead. That's where I got my Multi-Type power from - entering the dimension just... _gave_ it to me somehow, and I'm not entirely sure why."

Khrista paused for a moment, then shook her head. "Anyway, I took Cyrus down in Maria's place, and she managed to get here after we'd rebuilt and got everyone who'd been dragged over back home. Things haven't been... _entirely_ back to normal since then, but at least Cyrus can't pull those kinds of stunts anymore."

There came the sound of two sets of feet hitting the staircase above them, causing Khrista to look up.

"Sounds like Maria's coming back down," Khrista commented. She frowned. "Who else is coming down with her, though?"

She got her answer a moment later when Maria jogged off the base of the stairs, followed closely by a Lucario. There was a wide, confident grin on her face, and a black bracelet on her left wrist that definitely hadn't been there before.

"You got it?" Khrista called over.

"Yup!" Maria raised her left arm as she came over with the Lucario, showing off the bracelet even more. "And Han's going to be traveling with us for a while, too - he's actually related to Luke, the Lucario I trained in Sinnoh, so I'm looking forward to seeing how he fares on the team."

Han bowed in greeting. _"It will be an honor to travel with you on your quest."_

"No need to be so formal, buddy." Maria patted Han on the shoulder. "I may be a Guildmaster, but I don't stand on that kind of ceremony normally."

Han blinked at that and looked at Maria in surprise. He nodded a moment later and smirked. _"All right. Finally, a chance to relax a bit without my brother getting on my back about ceremony."_

"Know the feeling," Ada commented.

Han looked at Ada with a curious expression, red eyes sparking with interest. _"Really? You don't look like someone who's stuck in a tower for days and days on end meditating because you're supposed to be able to bond with nearly absolutely everybody because you're descended from the first Lucario who_ could _Mega Evolve."_ He motioned to the giant statue in the center of the room.

"Han, you may have a Trainer, but that doesn't mean that you should not abandon your heritage," the guru said pointedly.

" _Shut it, old man; you know I never liked being treated like royalty anyway."_ Han waved the guru off. _"So, Maria - are we gonna go or not?"_

"Oh, I like you," Ada smirked.

"Oh, we're gonna go," Maria replied brightly with a grin. "Next town over's our next destination - Coumarine City. You guys ready to roll?"

"Why not?" Hunter said cheerfully.

 **And that's a chapter. FWB actually mentioned this last chapter, and of course I didn't think to mention it. Some of these chapters get long, several times as long as my average chapter, some over three times FWB's average, which is noticeably longer than mine. Not to scare you off, but just make sure you've got a few minutes.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, I'm sure you're familiar with most of the ways of expressing different forms of communication, but I'm just going to be certain.** _ **Italics**_ **is either foreign/artificial languages (Mostly Mandalorian in my stories,) or telepathy, and** _ **::Italics in colans::**_ **is using some form of comms system. At this point, Hunter and Ada pretty much only communicate telepathically with each other, and all of FWB's characters usually use telepathy as an open broadcast.**

 **Chapter 3**

" _It certainly lives up to its name,"_ Hunter said as soon as Maria and Khrista led Ada and Hunter off the route and into the main part of Courmarine, where they immediately saw a collection of stone piers where boats were tied off.

"Now I get the "marine" part of the name," Maria commented dryly.

"The town's split into two parts," Khrista said. "There's the coastal part and the section that's closer inland. We're going to have to take a tram in order to get there – and get to your next Gym."

"Sweet." Maria grinned widely. "Lead the way then, experienced avatar."

" _Avatar?"_ Hunter asked, _"What's an avatar?"_

" _Not entirely sure, maybe it's similar to Ghost Ships?"_ Ada responded.

" _Maybe…"_ Hunter mused, _"I'll have to try and remember to ask later."_

Khrista snorted at Maria's comment, but obliged, leading their group past a small number of stands and what looked like a hotel before they reached the tram station.

As soon as they stepped inside, Khrista and Maria stopped short in surprise.

"Professor Sycamore?" Maria asked. "What are you doing here?"

The dark-haired man turned his head, and he smiled brightly as soon as he saw the two of them. "Why hello, you two! And Maria – congratulations on obtaining what Trainers require for the actual act of Mega Evolution!" He motioned to the black bracelet on her left wrist, as well as to Han. "A Mega Stone for the Pokémon, a Mega Ring for the Trainer, and a bond that I can only imagine will grow stronger."

Han huffed and rolled his eyes at that. _"Yeah, yeah, yeah."_

Ada sensed a ripple of amusement from Hunter and slightly inclined her head in acknowledgement.

"A strong bond is vital between Trainers and their Pokémon." A brown-haired woman who was standing next to Sycamore nodded sagely. "I would hate to imagine what sorts of chaos would occur if an inexperienced Trainer forced their Pokémon into Mega Evolution."

"Exactly." Sycamore nodded in agreement. He paused. "Oh! I've completely forgotten to introduce my friend – this is Diantha, the present Champion of the Kalos region. Diantha, I'm sure you've heard of—"

"Maria and Khrista, yes." The woman stepped forward and gave a nod in greeting to the two girls. "I have been waiting for the day that you two would set foot on my region's soil." She blinked in confusion when she noticed Ada and Hunter. "And who are these two?"

"Ada and Hunter." Maria motioned to the two of them. "We met them in Geosenge; they're going to be traveling around with us for a while. Guys, this is Professor Sycamore, one of the head researchers into Pokemon."

"A pleasure." Sycamore smiled kindly. He looked at Hunter curiously. "I haven't seen a Pokemon such as this one before."

"I keep telling people, I'm not a Pokemon!" Hunter sounded a lot more whiney than he probably intended.

"You've only done it twice," Ada pointed out, "Actually he's a Metroid, He's from a different dimension like me. He imprinted on me when he hatched from his egg," Ada grins slightly, "And I stopped trying to get rid of him after a few hours."

"A creature from a different dimension, you say?" Sycamore's eyebrows rose at that. "Fascinating! I hadn't thought that I would meet a creature of any sort from another dimension like this! Do you think a PokeBall would affect you just as well as it affects normal Pokemon?"

"I wouldn't try it," Khrista spoke up. "These things can leech off your life force if they feel like it."

"Ah." Sycamore backed up a step from Hunter. "I see."

"Try it," Hunter said dangerously, his tone at odds with his childlike voice.

" _Stand down!"_ Ada sternly commanded.

Sycamore looked unnerved, and he shook his head before looking back at Maria. "Well, I can assume that you know know how Mega Evolution works just as we do, but we still don't know why it decided to originate in Kalos after the Second Attempt."

Maria nodded, tapping the Mega Ring on her left wrist thoughtfully. She paused a moment later. "Maybe it has something to do with Geosenge," she suggested, getting a look from Khrista.

"Geosenge? That old archeological site?" Diantha inclined her head. "I heard that Lysandre was considering looking into something there."

"Well, it's got connections to an ancient weapon – it's a _grave site_ where Pokémon lives were given to power something," Maria said seriously. "That's what a Sigilyph there told me, and I'm inclined to believe what those Pokémon say."

Diancie and Sycamore exchanged looks.

"You don't mean to say…oh, dear." Diantha gained a worried expression.

"We saw Team Flare there, but the grunts disappeared before we could run them down," Khrista added.

"Oh, dear…."

"I'll have to make a few calls." Sycamore suddenly looked serious. "If Lysandre is connected at all to Team Flare, then we are going to have to move quickly in order to prevent him from causing anything similar to Cyrus' disaster. No doubt he will be going after either the Legendary of Life or the Legendary or Death."

"Or both," Maria added. "Cyrus went after Dialga and Palkia. I wouldn't be surprised if Lysandre goes after Xerneas and Yveltal in order to accomplish whatever he's planning." She paused. "You do have a third Legendary here, right?"

Sycamore nodded. "Yes – the Legendary of Balance, Zygarde. But no one has seen him or the other two within my lifetime – I don't know if we could be capable of finding their hiding places, much less anything on contacting them directly."

"Pull a few strings with the other profs and get into contact with my guild," Maria said. "I've already got them on the lookout for things that shouldn't be happening in Kalos; I'm sure giving them something else to look for will help us out immensely."

"Yes, certainly." Sycamore paused. "Ah, that's right – Maria, I know you have been through the various regions and Leagues multiple times – do you have the HM Fly with you?"

"Indeed I do." Maria pulled out a cylindrical case filled with disks of various colors and pointed to one of eight that was at the very bottom of the case. "Hidden Machine Fly, right down there. I'm planning on using it on Tim sometime soon."

 _HM?"_ Hunter asked his _Bu'ir._

" _HMs and TMs are machines used to teach Pokemon moves. HMs are rarer and can be used multiple times,"_ Ada responded after a second.

"That is a relief. I had been considering giving it to you, but if you already have one, then I can give this to Calem or Serena when they pass through here – I heard from Grant earlier this afternoon that they had just beaten his Gym, so they are not all that far behind you."

Maria nodded in response. "Great; I was wondering if they were going to catch up and challenge me again sometime." She grinned. "Thanks for the heads-up; I'll probably beat the Gym here and stay the night before thinking of where to go next."

"Excellent. Well then, I had best be on my way – perhaps I can meet them in Shalour before they get this far." Sycamore bowed to Dianthe. "I must take my leave, my dear. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Dianthe replied. "It's always a pleasure to be in your company."

Sycamore gave a slight smile, then bounded out of the tram station.

Dianthe chuckled as Sycamore disappeared, only for her expression to become more serious. "If Lysandre is behind this, I will have to be more careful around him in Lumiose. He has his own café there – maybe his followers tend to gather there more often than in other places. It's called the Red Café, if you are ever interested in investigating it yourself."

Maria gave a nod. "We'll make sure to keep an eye out for it the next time we're in Lumiose." She paused. "Have they solved the power outage problem yet?"

Dianthe smiled. "Yes, Clemont did. I heard that he called in some help from another region in order to assist him, and he will still be in town for a few days more. I believe he might be a friend of yours, fellow Champion."

Maria frowned at that. "Hmm…someone good with…" Her eyes widened slowly. "I can only think of two people who might be able to fit that description. Does this person have yellow fur or a bright orange mustache?"

" _Who would that be?"_ Hunter asked.

" _Those would be Tails or Eggman respectively,"_ Ada answered.

" _But isn't Eggman evil?"_

" _In all the dimensions I've researched yes, but this isn't one of those. I'd recommend not trusting him_ immediately, _but if Maria trusts him, he's probably fine,"_ Ada told her little companion.

Dianthe chuckled. "You will simply have to come to Lumiose and see for yourself." With that, she stepped out of the tram station.

"Huh, an ancient weapon of incredible power… Wonder how it'd react to a couple pounds of TNT down the barrel," Ada mused.

"It's not a conventional weapon," Khrista replied. "I've seen this thing on a Nintendo 3DS screen; it's huge, looks like a flower, and definitely is _not_ something that you want to throw TNT at. The energy backlash that could result might end up taking out Kalos entirely."

"Not something that we want to happen," Maria agreed. "Let's get on that tram; I'm planning on tackling that Gym before nightfall. We can stay at the Pokemon Center for the night, and since I didn't see one down here, it's probably on the other side of the tram."

Maria and the others were quick to board the tram, and the tram ride itself was both short and uphill. By the time they reached the end of the line, they were far inland and surrounded by much more greenery than they had been on the coast.

Maria took in a breath of fresh air as they stepped out of the tram station. "Mm. Smells almost like Pallet Town."

"Pallet Town's on a plain, isn't it?" Khrista asked, frowning.

"Somewhat. There's a good deal of forest, too, but it's right out on the coast, so there's a lot more open space," Maria replied. She clapped her hands together. "So! Time to find that Gym."

"I know where it is," Khrista replied. "Come on."

Khrista led the group down a short path that led away from the tram station towards a cliff face. Dug into the cliff was a cave, with two small pillars on either side of the cave entrance with PokeBall symbols on either side.

"A cave?" Maria raised an eyebrow. "The second Gym was in one, too – but there's no way they could be the same Type…." She went to one of the short pillars that was standing on either side of the cave entrance and inspected the engraving on it. "Courmarine City Pokémon Gym. Leader: Ramos; the old growth is still in bloom." She grinned. "Grass-Types."

"Grass-Types?" Delta looked up at Maria, ears perking up at least a little. "You mean—"

"Looks like you're taking point again." Maria grinned. "Tim, too; and considering how fast you two have been getting stronger, I think that the two of you are going to end up hitting your final evolution stage in there." She nodded back to the team. "You guys know the drill. There's definitely going to be an obstacle course in there."

The team quickly returned to their PokeBalls, then Maria stepped into the Gym, followed by Ada, Hunter, and Khrista.

Maria's train of thought proved to be right; the inside of the Gym was a gigantic tree, with platforms built into it at regular intervals. Ropes were hung from each platform in order to let Trainers to climb up the tree.

Maria whistled. "Sweet. This guy took Grass-Type Gyms to the next level." She rubbed her hands together, then started for the first rope and climbed up to the first platform.

Maria quickly climbed up the rest of the platforms, taking out Trainers along the way and letting out crows of laughter twice as she disappeared from the sight of the others.

Khrista snorted at Maria's confident cries and shook her head. "Sounds like Maria's going to get done with this place even faster than the Shalour one." She cocked her head to one side for a moment, then looked over at Ada. "You know, I don't think Evie's met you properly yet."

"...Nope, I haven't. Advantage of being half AI, I don't forget anything unless I want to, and I _never_ delete memories from the real world. Sometimes I'll delete memories of playing a video game or aVR training mission so I can replay them fresh, but if it happened in the real world I don't touch it."

Khrista took the PokeBall off her belt and rolled it around in her hand for a moment before popping it open, releasing what looked like a little gray, fluffy cat with wide purple eyes that stood on her two legs. She looked up at Ada and Hunter for a moment before ducking behind Khrista and peering around her Trainer's legs.

Khrista chuckled and knelt down, patting the cat-like Pokemon between her two ears. "It's okay, Evie. I just wanted to introduce you to a couple people who are going to be traveling around with us for a while." She nodded for Ada to come a little closer. "This is Ada; the creature behind her is named Hunter."

Hunter dropped down from his usual head height to Evie's, mandibles almost touching the ground, "Hi! My name's _Oy'an_ , but everyone calls me Hunter. Who are you?"

The little Pokemon pulled back and away nervously at the sudden approach of the Metroid, hiding even more behind Khrista. _"Evie."_

"She's still learning how to control her abilities; you might not want to get too close," Khrista warned, giving Hunter a pointed look. "Espurr at her age have a lot of psychic power that they're still learning to control. When she evolves into a Meowstic, she'll have a better handle on it, but I'm not going to push her to that." She kept petting Evie between her ears in a comforting gesture, adding, "She doesn't like conflict very much. Mostly, I've been training her to control her abilities, rather than get stronger like Maria's team has been."

There came a whoop from somewhere up the tree. "Nice one, Delta!"

Hunter floated back up a little, "Niece to meet you Evie," He gestured with a mandible towards the tree, adding to all nearby, "Well, it sounds like someone's having fun."

"Maria lived in this dimension for a good six years last time she was here, so I'm not surprised," Khrista replied dryly.

Evie remained where she was, clinging to Khrista's leg and looking at Hunter with a nervous expression. After a moment, she cocked her head to one side. _"What are you and your Trainer? I can hear voices going between you."_

Khrista blinked at that, then frowned and looked at the Espurr with an expression of disapproval. "Evie, you shouldn't be eavesdropping on other people's telepathic conversations. It's not polite."

" _Sorry…."_

""Oh, it's no problem. I'm a Metroid, a creature from another dimension, and my _Bu'ir_ is a Mobian cyborg named Composite, but they disguise themselves as a human named Ada so that she doesn't scare the humans. We're both good at learning languages, so we're trying to learn Pokemon language. We each learn different words and phrases, so we tell each other telepathically. Plus, in an emergency, telepathy is faster than sound. But neither of us are Pokemon."

" _O-oh."_ Evie ducked her head a little, embarrassed. She lifted her head again a moment later. _"I know what a Mobian is. I met one once. She was nice, and quiet, and said her name was Sally."_

"Sally?" Khrista blinked in surprise as her eyebrows rose. She looked over at Ada. "She must be talking about Sally Acorn; that must mean she's in the region somewhere."

"Sally Acorn…. Sally Acorn… Yeah, got it. Chipmunk, Princess of the Acorn kingdom, right?" Ada asked, defocusing for a moment.

"Yeah." Khrista nodded. "Maria ran into her and the rest of the main group in Sinnoh, before the Second Attempt. She's going to want to know about this; if Amy's in the region, and maybe someone else, there's a chance that we could run into more Mobians the more we travel around."

"Well, I for one wouldn't complain," Hunter said, "I'm always interested in meeting new people."

Ada started slightly in surprise before holding out her left arm, palm up and closing her hand. A sort of bracelet appeared in a swirl of red energy. "One moment, I need to take this." A hologram showing a stock photo of a blocky spaceship projected from a sort of gem-like nub on top. Hunter zipped up to his usual position. "Keely? Where are you? Did something happen?"

 _::Nothing happened, I'm currently in geosync over you,::_ a cool, almost emotionless feminine voice emerged from the device

Ada sighed, "What part of 'stay home' did you not understand?"

 _::Condor pointed out that you may need some support.::_ The response almost sounded defensive.

Oh, Condor made you do it eh? Well, since he's only in control of the fighters, he can't really _make_ you do anything."

:: _Yes Commander, but he was persuasive.::_

Ada sighed a second time, "Well, stay up there and stay out of sight. And put Condor on the line."

 _::Affirmative, Commander::_ The image of the ship was replaced with a male human in a pilot's uniform standing in front of a sort of kite-shaped starfighter with a ridiculous – but accurate – number of kill silhouettes painted along the forward mandibles.

"I told both of you to stay put. What went wrong?"

:: _Nothing Skipper, I thought you might want me to beam something, so I convinced Keely to fly out here::_ The AI's voice held a distinct tone of suppressed arrogance and excitement.

"Well, next time, follow orders or I'll put you in charge of the T6 and have you fly scrap out of Maine Hub until you fall apart!"

 _::Skipper!::_ Condor had a tone of disbelief and slight nervousness.

"Of course not! I'd never _really_ do that to you."

:: _Thank you Skipper!::_

"Well go back to your training hotshot and next time don't try and convince Keely to follow me when I tell you not to. And stay in the fighter bay, I know that look!"

 _::Got it Skipper_ :: The device hologram disappeared.

"Who was that?" Khrista asked.

"My starship AIs. I told them to stay in the Elite Dangerous universe, but apparently the fighter pilot convinced the mothership AI to follow me. "

"Troublemaker, huh?" Khrista smirked. "Sounds like you need to get some sense pounded into this guy."

"A bit. He's an arrogant hotshot pilot who thinks he's the best thing out there because he's capable of reacting far faster than humans. I've been meaning to pound some humility into him by 'accidentally' cranking the settings on his favorite VR missions far beyond his capabilities. The mothership AI, Keely, is more reasonable. Not sure how Condor managed to convince her to go along with his plan. Just in case, Hunter, go fly up there and disable the hardpoints. I don't need someone getting an itchy trigger finger, and if there's any shooting from orbit, I want it to be you," Hunter gave an affirmative sound and disappeared in a flash. Ada returned to speaking with Khrista, "I've seen him fry an egg from geosynchronous orbit without charring the ground under it. He's a good hand with a beam laser. Doubt we'll need it though."

"Yeah, I doubt it," Khrista agreed. "Everything that happens down here _usually_ doesn't need any big laser weapons of mass destruction, especially since Maria and I are usually right in the middle of things."

"Wouldn't classify the lasers as WMDs though. That's the modified missile launchers. You ever seen what happens when you drop a telephone pole made of titanium from orbit?"

"No, and to be completely honest I don't want to. The Pokemon that live around here can get to be dangerous enough without adding anything nuclear to the mix. Some of the Pokemon that Maria's trained can be powerful enough to unleash blasts of flame that could melt everything within their radius. Even little Pokemon like Evie can pack a surprising amount of punch; that's why I'm helping her to learn how to control her power." Khrista went back to petting Evie on the head. "As she is now, if she lets everything loose, she could vaporize everyone in here if she isn't careful."

" _I don't want to,"_ Evie said seriously.

"And you won't," Khrista replied. "Holding it back is the first step. Letting it slowly leak out for Confusion attacks is the one we're working on now."

Evie nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I really hope I don't have to use Keely. I've never needed any weapons that powerful before. Though I could think of a few places I wouldn't mind turning into craters. And.I don't do nukes, too much fallout. I've only tested most of the weapons on uninhabited planets. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find planets with an Earth-like atmosphere and no life? It's pretty much impossible."

Hunter reappeared, "There we go,I discharged the lasers into empty space and disabled the weapon recharge systems - diverted it into the shield capacitors - and unloaded the missile launchers and put the ammo in the cargo bay.I also retracted the hardpoints and unplugged the deployment systems. 'Cept the Point Defense, but it's got a maximum range of about half a kilometer"

Khrista let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her shoulders, not having noticed that they'd been getting slowly stiffer over the course of the conversation. "That's good."

It was right at that point that Maria burst through a door carved into the bottom of the tree jungle gym, letting out a whoop as she hit the ground. She stepped to the side quickly as a large, fox-like humanoid figure followed after her, fur now in what looked like an ankle-length dress rather than a short skirt.

"Got the Plant Badge!" Maria held up what looked like a leaf-shaped Badge. "And Delta and Tim hit their final forms, too!" She motioned to the fox-like creature standing behind her, who raised a hand and waved. "Delta's a Delphox now, by the way. I'll let Tim out of his Ball outside so you guys can get a look at his Talonflame form."

"Cool!" Hunter said happily, bobbing up and down in excitement.

"20 minutes and 45.16 seconds," Ada added.

Maria did a double-take at Ada's comment. "You were keeping track?"

"AI remember? It's pretty much automatic. I could give you nanoseconds if you want. I'd say picoseconds, but at measures that fine you get speed of light delays."

Maria blinked a couple times at that, then shook her head. "I may be capable of doing something like that, but I don't usually make it a point of timing how long it takes me to get things done…." She shook her head again. "Eh; to each his own, I guess - or her own. Let's go by the Pokemon Center and check out a room or two for the night. We're not going to be able to get to the next town today."

"Sounds good to me," Ada states.

"Great! I've never been in a proper bedroom before!" Hunter says excitedly.

"What, really?" Maria asked, blinking in surprise.

"Well, I hatched on an abandoned space station, so no bedrooms, and Composite usually spends the nights in the computer room, but sometimes they rests under their desk for variety. I just hang out in a corner."

"Well, you're going to be sleeping in actual bedrooms for at least a week," Khrista replied. "Depending on how long it takes Maria to solve the Team Flare problem, that is."

"Might not take very long at all," Maria agreed. "Especially considering how quickly I'm going through the Gyms; I'm already halfway done!"

"I've seen you do two Gyms, and there are eight total. How fast did you do the first two?" Ada asked.

"I did one yesterday and one earlier today before we ran into each other," Maria explained. She motioned for the group to follow her out of the Gym, explaining, "The first was a Bug-Type Gym, which Delta and Tim handled really well. The second one was a Rock-Type Gym, which I had to rely on Pour and Flora for. And you saw the other two that I've already taken on today." She paused on the path leading up to the Pokemon Center and laughed. "Three Gyms in one day! That's a new record for me!"

"Is just over 20 minutes a new record too?" Hunter inquired.

Maria tapped her chin at that, considering the Metroid's question. "Nah; I think I got through the Rock-Type Gym in Hoenn in 15 minutes. There were only two Trainers and the Gym Leader in there."

The group soon reached the Pokemon Center, which was right next to the tram station. Maria led them inside and went right up to the counter, where a pink-haired woman happened to be standing.

"Hello," Maria greeted cheerily.

"Good afternoon," the woman replied, nodding. "Are you here to have your team healed?"

"That, and we need a place to spend the night," Maria replied. She paused then turned and looked back at Ada and Khrista. "What do you guys think? One or two rooms? The rooms can hold up to four, with two sets of bunk beds, but if you want some privacy, Ada, I wouldn't hold it against you."

"Why aren't you asking whether or not _I_ want any privacy?" Khrista asked.

"We stayed in the same room in Camphrier last night; I figured that you wouldn't be against it," Maria responded.

"Oh, yeah." Khrista blinked for a moment, then shrugged."Yeah, sure; I'm fine with sharing a room."

"Think we'll take a separate room unless it's an inconvenience to anyone else," Ada said after a moment of thought.

Maria nodded and looked back at the woman. "Two rooms, then, if possible, please."

The woman thought for a moment, then nodded and ducked under the counter for a moment before coming up with two room keys. "I assume you will be only staying here one night?"

"That's right." Maria nodded. "We're in a bit of a hurry, but we won't be able to get any further today."

"Very wise of you. Did you come up from Lumiose?"

"Up from - in a roundabout way; we got here from Shalour. Why? Is the southern gate leads up from there?"

The nurse nodded. "Yes; it goes through the badlands. If you are planning on going that way, it's wise that you're spending the night here; the windstorms pick up in the afternoon and evening and make it almost impossible to travel."

"Oof." Maria winced. "Definitely glad we decided to spend the night here, then."

"Sounds nasty," Ada states.

"Oh, it certainly can be," the nurse agreed. "If you want to do any training with your Pokemon, there is a small sparring field behind the Pokemon Center. Otherwise, you are more than welcome to go to your rooms or to the cafeteria for a meal. Dinner should be ready shortly."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy." Maria pulled the PokeBalls off her belt and, after returning Delta inside hers, handed them over to the woman, who promptly retreated back down a corridor behind the counter. "It shouldn't take her too long to make sure my team's doing okay; is there anything you guys want to do now?"

"Not especially, I thought we'd just go explore around town, maybe listen to a few more species of Pokemon to make sure I don't learn the language wrong. Toyed with the idea of tracking down a few Flare goons, but you'd probably want to come along on. Besides, it's easier than dragging them back to the Pokemon Center by their hair."

"Hey Maria, is there something special about the berries around here?" Hunter asked, examining a potted plant.

"The berries?" Maria blinked at the question. "Er, well, that depends on what you're used to, I guess. Berries here are used mostly in medicines or as natural cures for things like burns, poison, forced sleep, paralysis, and in cases of extreme cold. They can also boost attack power, defense, speed, or just give you back a certain amount of health depending on what you eat. There are even ones that bounce damage back at your opponent, but those berries are really rare and really hard to find. Why do you ask?"

"I overheard a couple of people near the Gym talking about them, but forgot to ask earlier. Though the cold ones sound useful. I doubt I'd be able to use them though, since not only do I not need solid food, I _can't_ eat solid food. I'm sure _Bu'ir_ could think of something." Hunter floated over to go investigate the PC.

"They can be used for broth and put in medicinal sprays." Maria paused. "I could figure out how to -"

"Hey, you might not want to get too close to that, Hunter." Khrista moved towards the computer that was sitting on one end of the counter. "Trainers use those PCs to either store their Pokemon in digital space or teleport them to another part of the world."

"Been there, done that, got the tshirt!" Hunter quipped, " _Bu'ir_ built a digitizing laser in a basement storeroom that nobody else knows about."

"Tron's dimension has it below a video game store; so what?" Khrista responded.

"The point is is that you'd better not get too close to that thing or else you could get registered as an unknown Pokemon and could end up zipped off to a Professor's lab," Maria explained. "I've heard of that happening before - especially with Legendaries like Mewtwo or Mythical Pokemon like Latios and Latias. The rarer the Pokemon - or if the creature was undiscovered before that moment - the more likely it is that you're going to end up accidentally digitized and sent to Professor Oak's lab all the way in Kanto. That's almost halfway around the world from here."

" _Bu'ir_ could find me easily enough, but I get your point." Hunter backed away and headed back to Ada.

"And for the record, it was an arcade, and before that a lab." Ada pointed out, "not that that's the point."

"...oh, yeah." Khrista rubbed the back of her head. "I knew it was something like that."

"Sounds like we need to pull out Dad's Tron movies when we get home," Maria said with a joking grin. She elbowed Khrista and laughed as the nurse came back with Maria's team, still snug in their PokeBalls. Maria was quick to collect them. "Come on; I'm starving, and I think the caf's open. All-you-can-eat buffet for traveling Trainers, if you're a walking bottomless pit." She licked her lips at the thought.

"Work with one of those," Ada commented before her tone darkened slightly, "At least for liquids, and I don't mean water."

Maria scratched her head, frowning. "Are you talking about...alcohol? I think they have some stuff for older Trainers, but you'd have to show them you're old enough."

"Technically, you are," Khrista pointed out. "You'd be 23."

"I'm _eighteen,_ you." Maria jabbed Khrista again. "I am not touching that stuff."

"Yes, that's what I mean, and no, I don't drink much of it. Doesn't have any effect on me any different from water. Anything I ingest is filtered through something not dissimilar to a digitizer before it reaches my biological components, so anything harmful gets filtered out. Intoxication tends to reduce combat performance, and Fcon didn't want to take the risk."

"Hm." Maria blinked at that.

"Didn't Joshua say something about how you can't get intoxicated anymore?" Khrista sent Maria a sly look.

"If you are planning on trying to see what it would be like for me to drink, you've got another thing coming," Maria responded pointedly. "I'm _eighteen._ " Her voice lowered into a growl. "Just because I'm not human anymore doesn't mean that I'm just gonna go willy-nilly with this stuff."

" _Anymore?"_ Ada asked, "You read to my sensors like some sort of cyborg or robot, you're saying you weren't always mechanical?"

Maria jolted a little at the question, blinking a couple times at that. She looked over at Ada, and her mouth twitched up a little into an attempt at a smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "No, I wasn't. I was human for almost seventeen years, and then I ran into an accident in another dimension." She shrugged one shoulder, appearing indifferent. "The man who saved my life transferred my soul into the body you see now. I just...keep most of the differences hidden under a hologram so that people don't freak out when they see it."

"I can see why. If your home dimension is like mine, then it would certainly cause problems," Ada, sensing a touchy subject, leaves it at that.

"I _knew_ there was something off about you!" Hunter crowed, "You don't look like a human _or_ cyborg to my Metroid sight, but you actually _do_ appear, so you clearly have some kind of life energy!"

Maria started to reach for her chest in an almost absent manner, then caught herself and shook her head. "I'm glad I still have it, and the freedom to control my actions as I used to when I was human."

"Hey, how about we go get something to chow down on?" Khrista suggested quickly. "I think I can smell chili dogs from here; they must've started serving them more often after Sonic popped up, right?"

Maria's grim sort of expression took a moment to brighten at the mention of the Mobian, and she chuckled a little. "Yeah, I'd believe that. Especially considering how many he eats!"

"Con-Hey!" Hunter starts, not to be deterred, before a quick jab from Ada, "What'd you do that for?"

"Remind me to teach you what 'take the hint' means, now let's eat!" Ada succeedd where Khrista couldn't, heading towards the smell of food.

Khrista looked over at Maria. "That little guy doesn't look like he's gonna let it go."

"Here's hoping he eventually does," Maria muttered in reply. She started towards the cafeteria herself, Khrista following after her.

" _He will if I tell him to,"_ Ada told Khrista telepathically, wishing, not for the first time, that she could communicate with non-telepaths.

Khrista inclined her head at the voice in her head as her shirt flickered to gold. _"I hope he does. He seems to be the kind of guy who likes to stick his nose into other people's business. I just hope that nothing that's happened before in other places ends up forcing it out in the open; we've had more than enough to worry about."_

Ada's telepathy took on a dark tone, _"Whatever she's got, I can probably match it."_

" _...we'll have to see about that one. I'm sure that each of our stories could scare the other one pretty well."_ Khrista's eyes flicked to Hunter as they entered the cafeteria. _"We'd just have to tell them when he's not listening, if Maria's up to it."_

" _I'm no shrink, but I can tell a very sensitive subject when I hear one. If I need to get him out of here, I can just ask Keely to 'accidently' have a few systems errors he needs to fix on-site."_

" _She might not talk about it. I'll leave it up to her and whatever it is that happens while we're traveling around."_ Khrista reached the start of the line for food a few people behind Maria, who glanced back and eyed Khrista's now-gold shirt with a raised eyebrow before going back to serving herself up her dinner. _"It might be a good idea to just drop it entirely for now."_

" _That I can agree with. Unlike him, I know when's a good time to restrain my curiosity, and I know more about avoiding private topics. He's too young to have learned."_ Ada stepped into line herself and grabbed a tray. "Anyway, got any recommendations for food?"

"Anything's good!" Maria called back as Khrista's shirt shifted back to red. "Personally, though, I wouldn't go for the pizza, and if you want anything for dessert, I'd go for anything with Berries or some other fruit in them. They're more likely to have been baked recently."

"Got it," Khrista called back.

 **Whew! Just a few minutes off this time, let's see if I can't just keep this up!**


	4. Chapter 4: Power Plant

**Chapter 4:: Power Plant**

 **POV: 3rd**

The next morning, the group handed the keys to their rooms back to Nurse Joy, made a quick stop in the cafeteria for breakfast, then left the Pokémon Center and made their way toward the gate at the southern end of town that led out to the badlands that they had been told about the day before.

"We're probably going to run into a lot of Ground and Rock-Types out there, so I'm keeping the team in their PokeBalls until we get back to Lumiose." Maria patted the spheres on her belt. "Hopefully, they'll have the power outage solved, and I can challenge Clemont."

"You should be able to," Khrista replied. "The power should be back on by the time we get back to the city."

"So, what do you know about the badlands?" Ada asked, mostly to Khrista, but certainly willing to hear from Maria.

"Well, there's no cover from the wind, and Pokemon are going to be coming up from underground at us," Khrista replied. "The wind's strong enough to slow you down or speed you up when you go in certain directions. You're not going to find anybody actually living out there."

"I should think not, if the wind's that bad," Maria commented as they stepped into the gate between the city and the badlands. "I definitely wouldn't want to be out there for too long; hopefully, we'll be able to get through the route and straight to Lumiose without being stopped too much."

"Hey, Maria!"

Maria blinked, then turned her focus to the other side of the gate at the sound of the voice, and she caught sight of two figures: a boy with blond hair, and a girl with purple hair. A smile appeared on her face. "Hey, Dexio! Hey, Sina! What are you guys doing here?"

"We were on the way to the Power Plant at Professor Sycamore's request," the blond boy - Dexio - explained. "But the gate connecting Lumiose City to Route 13 has been shut by a mysterious power outage. We have to investigate."

Maria blinked at that, then looked over at Khrista, raising an eyebrow. "Team Flare?"

"More than likely," Khrista replied grimly.

"You think Team Flare has something to do with this?" Sina – the purple-haired girl – asked in surprise.

"Well, unless Clemont hasn't managed to repair the power grid for Lumiose yet, then there might be something else going on," Maria pointed out.

Dexio and Sina exchanged looks at Maria's statement.

"That's definitely something that we should look into," Dexio said. "You're planning on looking into it too, then?"

"That's the plan, yes." Maria nodded.

"Okay. The route that's between us and Lumiose right now is the only desert area that's in Kalos." Dexio motioned to the exit of the gate shelter behind them. "Desert-like, anyway. The entire area is clay, not sand."

"Some people say that the Lumiose Badlands was the place where a great weapon hit three thousand years ago," Sina added. "The only things that live there now are Ground and Rock-Types, mostly."

Ada glanced at her hand, which had green-white flickers flashing between her fingers, ensuring that she could release sonar pulses if necessary.

"Gotcha. Thanks." Maria nodded. "Sounds like Pour is going to be leading the charge. Han too, probably, depending on what we run into. Does this route lead down to Lumiose?"

"It's supposed to, yes." Sina nodded. "But the gate was locked down with the power outage. There's a power station out on the Badlands, so that might be something to check out."

"Cool; we'll swing by if there's anything going on," Maria replied. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Power plant eh? That ought to be fun," Ada commented, "I'm good with electricity."

"Good; they could have caused some damage out there doing who knows what." Maria gave Ada a thumbs-up.

Sina shifted from foot to foot nervously. "U-um, you know, there have been rumors of people acting strangely. Like, differently from how they normally do. You might want to be careful who you talk to sometimes."

Maria looked over at Sina at that, an uncertain sort of expression on her face at the girl's comment. Khrista eyed her friend with a concerned expression. "People acting differently…" She frowned. "That doesn't sound good. Thanks for the warning; I'll be sure to keep an eye out."

"As will I," Khrista added. Her red shirt flickered to a bright gold for a moment before settling back. "If anyone tries to get by me, they're gonna find they have another thing coming."

Ada's right fist clenched dangerously, considering activating their shotgun.

Sina nodded, looking relieved. "That's good. I hope that Team Flare isn't planning anything like what caused the Second Attempt."

"They shouldn't be, according to what I know," Khrista replied. "But if they are, we'll make sure they don't get far enough to actually cause it."

"I for one won't let those _shabuir_ try anything funny," Ada added.

"Language, _Bu'ir_ ," Hunter admonished

"Sorry. Oh, by the way, Hello, I'm Ada and this is Hunter. He's a Metroid from another dimension. We travel between worlds like Maria."

Sina's expression quickly shifted to surise, and she clapped her hands over her mouth as an excited squeal came out. "Oh my gosh, really?"

"I was about to ask about him." Dexio nodded to Hunter. "I had wondered for a moment if he was some new Evolved form of Solosis, but he definitely looks more dangerous."

"Only when he's angry. Or hungry, but those tend to happen at the same time," Ada responded. Hunter made a sort of smirking motion and bobbed slightly in agreement.

"So, we gonna stick up a power plant or what?" Hunter asked cheerfully.

"We're going," Maria confirmed. "Dexio, Sina - stay out of trouble, all right? We don't completely know what Team Flare is planning, but with what we know now, it's definitely going to be bad news. I don't want to see Sycamore's assistants getting wrapped up in something they can't handle very well."

"But you took down Team Rocket when you were our age," Dexio pointed out.

"Yeah, but I fought Dialga and Palkia _as a Pokemon myself_ before that happened," Maria responded. "I've got more save the world experience than you two do. If you want to help, keep an eye out for any Flare goons that might be around and get the word to the Prof or any Pokemon wearing a bandanna and a PokeBall badge of some kind - they'd be a part of my Guild."

Dexio and Sina exchanged looks at that, then nodded at Maria.

"Good." Maria looked at the others. "Okay, guys, let's go."

As soon as the group stepped out on the other side of the gate, they were instantly met with a strong blast of wind that whipped their hair into their faces and tried to push them to the left. The land itself was a dull red color, completely flat, and with absolutely no sign of cover or anything else that could have stopped the wind.

"Gah!" Maria shifted her weight so that she was leaning more on her right leg. "Geez, this wind is strong!"

"It's certainly impressive," Ada commented, She flicked her hand, causing her hair to go from loose to a tight bun and grabbing Hunter before he flew off.

"I'm okay!" the Metroid complained. Ada released her telekinetic grip and he jolted with the wind before correcting his course.

Maria pushed her hair back behind her head as Khrista's shirt shifted to gold again and her hair suddenly schooled itself into something resembling a ponytail, but it glowed with purple-pink energy as it stayed in place.

"Peh." Maria spat out a wayward strand of hair and forced it all through the opening at the back of her baseball cap. "Well, that was annoying." She looked around at the flat, clay plain that made up the badlands and frowned. "Man, this place is practically a wasteland. I don't see _anybody_ out here." She took a few steps forward, fighting against the wind, and looked around. "Watch your step, guys! It looks like there's something burrowing through the ground near here!" Maria pointed towards what looked like a line of pushed-up dirt that was a little to the left and in front of her.

"It could be a Trapinch." Khrista followed after Maria. "Or a Gible or a Dugtrio. They're the most common Pokemon around here."

"Well, they're Ground-Types for the most part; I'd expect nothing less." Maria looked around, turning her head this way and that. "It looks like this place is surrounded by a canyon of some kind. Guess this spot is a giant crater - maybe for that weapon, like what Sina said."

Ada's pupils turned blue and she looked around, "I'm not seeing any electrical activity except for us," Her pupils changed to gray, and then to orange, "And the clay dust is causing too much interference for X-ray or infrared," Her pupils returned to the normal bhuman black. "So, which way to the power plant?"

"That depends on which one you want to go for."

Maria gave Khrista an odd look. "What do you mean by that?"

"There's three of them out here for generating different kinds of energy - thermal, wind, and then your basic electrical plant. I didn't get access to the two in-game that are over there." Khrista pointed off towards the left. "There's one more in this direction," she pointed towards the right, "and that's the one that the game let me get into."

Maria cocked her head to one side to consider that. "Sounds like we've got our lead. Let's go - and be careful to watch your step. The ground could be unstable in places if we happen to step over a Dugtrio's nest or into a Trapinch's ant trap."

"That sounds like a bad idea," Ada floated upward a few inches, hovering on a small telekinetic wave.

"You know what, that's actually not a bad idea." Khrista's shirt shifted color, becoming a swirling pattern of gold and light blue before she jumped. She winced at the wind and pushed herself down a moment later when she drifted back behind Maria and Ada. "On second thought, better not."

Maria held out an arm. "If you're really so nervous about the idea, hang on to me. That wind's not gonna be dragging me anywhere; I'm too heavy for it." She held out her other arm, in case Ada wanted to grab on.

"Not a bad idea." Khrista grabbed Maria's right arm and rose up into the air again, holding on with both hands as she bobbed in the air like a flag.

Ada waved Maria off and started to float forward, leaning into the wind and battering her way in the direction indicated by Khrista. Maria quickly moved after her, slowed down slightly because of the wind and because Khrista was hanging onto her.

It wasn't the power plant that they saw first. It was a man wearing a bright red suit with bright red hair stylized to stick up like flames that they first caught sight of.

"Hey!" Maria barked as Khrista landed. She quickly reached down to her belt. "Flare goon!"

"H-hey! You kids shouldn't be in this area!" The man - a Team Flare grunt - grabbed a PokeBall from inside his suit. He released a black and orange dog with curled horns on its head. "I'm gonna send you scurrying back to where you came from!"

"We'll see about that!" Maria threw a PokeBall, releasing a blue monkey. "Pour, take that Houndoom out! Brine!"

"You got…" Pour bent back, taking in a breath, then spat out a large stream of what looked like salt water that slammed into the Houndoom and send him skidding back across a steel bridge that the Flare grunt happened to be standing in front of. The Pokemon was quickly returned, only to be replaced by a large bat with its open mouth taking up most of its body.

"Pour for Delta! Psyshock the Golbat!"

Pour was quickly replaced by the Delphox, who waved her wand, causing clumps of Psychic energy to slam into the Golbat and cause it be sent flying backwards into the Flare grunt.

The Golbat was quickly pulled into its PokeBall. "Gah! Y-you're too…." The Flare grunt gulped when he saw the looks he was getting from the girls and the Pokemon. "U-uh...I guess I'm gonna scurry back to where I came from!" He turned and bolted.

"After him!" Maria ordered. "The power plant they've taken over has to be up ahead!"

The group charged after the Flare grunt, who scrambled for what looked like a small outhouse-type building. He tore the door open and started to shut it behind him.

Maria got to the door before the Flare grunt could shut it, slipping her fingers in just below his and yanking the door back open while tearing his off with her other hand. The resulting force caused the grunt to fall backward down a dark stairwell that was illuminated by a dim, purple light.

"Looks like we've found the entrance," Maria commented. She cracked her knuckles. "All right; let's show these guys what happens when you try to do things you're not supposed to."

"Wow, that was a little violent," Hunter commented, zooming down the stairs to go check on the grunt. A scream followed by the sound of running feet echoed up, followed by Hunter's shout of "He's fine! Must have scared him by accident," he came back up the stairs sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't do anything wrong," Ada reassured, "He may just spread the story and spook a few of his buddies into giving up."

"More like let them know they've got intruders incoming." Maria peered into the stairwell. "Looks like we've got an empty hallway up ahead; come on."

The group made their way down the stairs and into an equally dimly-lit hallway. Purple-tinged electric lanterns were stuck to the walls at regular intervals, leaving them in near but not-quite darkness as Khrista closed the door behind them and came down the stairs last.

"Man, this place is creepy quiet without the music." Khrista whistled a few notes of a song as they started down the hall to the door on the other side.

"Ssh!" Maria made a cut-off motion. "Keep it down; they already know we're coming, no need to broadcast it after the fact!"

Khrista stopped whistling. "Right. Sorry."

They made their way down the hallway on light feet, Maria's shoes making strangely metallic clicking noises as she stepped on the metal floor.

Maria winced as they reached the end of the hall and stepped into a larger chamber. "Guess my sneaking days are-" She cut herself off and motioned for Ada, Khrista, and Delta to stop behind her.

A line of men and women wearing electrician uniforms were marching past them in a straight line into a room that was a short distance away. Despite the fact that the group was standing _right in front of them_ and locking eyes with them, the men and women didn't seem to notice them.

In fact, their gazes almost seemed to be glazed over.

"Hypnosis," Maria hissed under her breath as the last of them marched into the room and the door closed tightly behind them. "There's a Psychic Trainer on the loose in here. Great."

" _Demagolka_!" Hunter snarled.

"Says the one who was complaining about my language earlier," Ada commented dryly, "But I wonder if these torches can be removed. If I can get to the wires, I'll be able to charge up for some electrical attacks. I can _charge_ my attacks myself, but I need an external source of electricity to initiate the charging. I can't speak for you, but I get the feeling that if I were a goon, I'd get pretty spooked by a power-suited Mobian firing Sith Lightning into the floor at your feet."

Maria looked back at Ada at that comment, and a grin started to cross her face that made her look rather sinister. "Sure; go ahead. Spooking them is something that I'm definitely all for, especially if they're pulling a stunt like this."

"Knock knock!"

Maria whirled back around as a male Flare grunt came towards them, walking in a confident manner.

"And who are you?" the man asked. "I definitely haven't seen you around here before."

Maria dropped the holographic disguise, revealing red, orange, and gray armor that _definitely_ didn't look like it belonged in this dimension. She reared back and punched the grunt in the face, sending him falling him back onto the floor with a dull, clanging sort of thud.

 **Change POV: Composite**

I crossed my arms over my chest, reverting to our base form with a glow of energy and an obviously Dragon Ball-inspired green-white flame aura. Not a difficult ability, it simply required using telekinesis to move the air surrounding us in the correct patterns, taking advantage of the aura created around objects under the influence of our telekinetic abilities. Once that faded, we calmly walked over to a lantern and placed our hand on it, sending a probe of energy into the system, and satisfied that our actions wouldn't cause a chain reaction, calmly ripped it off the wall and plunged or left hand into the hole, feeling the familiar sensation of electricity being attracted to our presence. After about five seconds, we withdrew our am, now engulfed in a crackling gauntlet of power. Noticing a collection of goons rushing into the room, we drew our katana from Hammerspace, sending power from our hand into the blades. With electricity sparking and arcing along and between the blades, we snarled, "All right… WHO WANTS SOME?!" To prove our point, we pointed our blades towards a pair of grunts and fired an energy ball between the two, close enough that both of them came out with the electrocution hairstyle, albeit nothing worse.

"A-aah!" the grunts jumped back at the sight of the attack, looked at each other, and scrambled back up the stairs and down the hall they had come in from.

"Whelp, we've got their attention now!" Maria grabbed at the PokeBalls at her waist and released the six Pokemon within, revealing that she had switched out the Butterfly Pokemon for a brown and blue-colored golem of some kind, and that Tim had turned into a large orange, black, and white hawk-like Pokemon. "Okay, guys, we're in a power plant that's been taken over by Team Flare. We're going to be taking them on and kicking them out of here."

" _Sweet."_ Han grinned and slammed his paws together.

"We've got something else to worry about, too," Maria added. "There's someone here with a Psychic-Type Pokemon that's hypnotized the workers here. Gol, Pour, you two have Ghost and Dark-Type attacks that can really hurt them; I'm going to be relying on you two if we happen to run into them."

"I…" the golem said as Pour grinned widely. We assume the golem's words are an acknowledgement.

"Normally, I'd say we split up and scour this place for them, but it looks like the number of rooms we have access to are limited." Maria's eyes narrowed at the hallway the goons had disappeared down after our display. "So, are you guys ready to rush this place and knock these goons into next week?"

The result of Maria's pep talk is a loud collection of assorted sounds that we assume are exuberant agreement.

"Then let's roll!"

The electricity flowed back down our blades, reforming the gauntlet on our left arm. We inserted the tips of our blades into scabbards that appeared on our back during Maria's speech, "There's a saying: When you grab a tiger by the tail," the blades slammed home with a _shink,_ "You'd better have a plan to deal with its teeth. And it looks like these guys planned for a smaller tiger."

" _Much smaller,"_ Hunter agreed happily.

" _And no eating,_ ad'ika," we preempt.

Maria snorted, grinning widely at our audible statement. _"That_ is putting it mildly." She charged up the stairs, leading her team and the rest of us in the direction that the hypnotized technicians had just come from.

The room on the other side of the hallway was pentagonal in shape. A platform ran around the outer edge of the room, with a lower level below it with what looked like glass pipes with exposed electricity running through them, and another platform higher-up and connected to the outer platform.

And hovering over the pipes crisscrossing the floor below, with an entranced expression on his face, was a yellow-furred, fox-like humanoid creature with two tails spinning like helicopter blades. Having never seen him in person, it took us a moment to remember who he is.

" _Tails!"_ Maria had no such hesitation.

The fox Mobian jerked, and his head turned sharply and focused on Maria and the rest of us, but mostly Maria, still with that entranced expression.

Khrista's eyebrows furrowed, and she jumped up and lashed out with a slash of Psychic energy that slammed into him. The attack sent him flying towards the opposite wall, where he slammed into it back first and slid down onto the platform below him.

Maria turned sharply and stared at Khrista. "Khrista—"

"That Psycho Cut is not as strong as it could have been," Khrista responded. "Besides, we have other things to worry about."

"Hey!"

Maria turned her head sharply, and she caught sight of a Flare grunt pointing at them. Seven other grunts were focused on them, as well.

"Get those kids!" the grunt yelled.

"Guys, go wild!" Maria's right hand slipped into her arm, exposing a weapon barre. "Stun Shot!"

" _What's that?"_ Hunter asked us.

" _Megabuster variant of some sort. Probably can fire different types of shots, since she specified the type,"_ we quickly analyze.

A yellow energy sphere exploded from Maria's Buster and slammed into a Flare grunt at the same time that Maria's team scattered around the room, going after the Flare grunts as they quickly released their teams.

"You know," Hunter started conversationally to a grunt, " _Bu'ir_ always tells me not to play with my food, but I think I'll make an exception," He dashed forward, battering the grunt from all sides like a ragdoll before he let the now unconscious goon slump to the ground.

" _Oy'an_ , go make sure Tails is okay," we yelled. We stepped back to allow Maria's team to have their fun, but kept our fists raised in case one of the grunts was stupid enough to try rushing us. Hunter flew off in Tails' direction.

Maria was already moving, her cannon-like weapon aimed at the grunts and their Pokemon that tried to step in her way. Delta handled some of them, moving them out of the way and into walls with a flick of her wand as Gol slammed his fists into the ground, creating miniature earthquakes of various magnitudes that shook up their feet. Tim flew around the room, combating against a Golbat that one of the grunts had released at Maria's initial cry. We floated upward slightly, hovering just high enough to keep ourselves from being staggered by the earthquakes.

Maria jumped over a Scald attack from Pour that knocked out a black and orange dog-like Pokemon - a Houndour - and landed in front of Tails' stunned form. "Tails, are you okay?!"

A grunt, seeing that she was momentarily distracted, started to move in order to sneak up on Maria from behind. We spat out a soft curse and shot forward, drawing a blade. We flipped it around and whacked the grunt with the hilt, sending him to the floor.

Tails groaned, and he shook his head before his blue eyes focused. He blinked a couple times before his eyes widened. "Maria? What are you –"

"No time; we're in a power plant north of Lumiose; you've _just_ been knocked out of hypnosis. We can catch up after we knock Team Flare out of here – where's your team?"

"M-my team?" Tails reached down to his red and white shoes and slipped a couple fingers into his socks before pulling out three PokeBalls. "Huh. Looks like they didn't take them."

"Good. Where's the head honcho around here?"

Tails pointed up at the suspended platform and paused. "Shoot! Clemont! He came in here with me to figure out where the power was going! He's probably up there, too!"

The last goon slammed into a wall and collapsed. "Well then, let's go find them," Composite stated.

"Right." Maria's hoverboard detached from her back, unfolding from what looked like a battery pack into its full length. She jumped on it as Tails wound his tails together and jumped into the air, spinning them to give him lift. The two of them zipped over to the suspended platform in the middle as Maria's team surged up the platform towards the figures who were standing on it, knocked out Flare grunts and Pokemon left in their wake. Hunter floated rapidly upward. We glanced around to ensure no more surprises were coming and shot upward after the rest of the group on a wave of telekinetic energy.

Maria's hoverboard whacked into the head of a blond-haired boy with circular glasses, knocking him to the ground as Maria aimed her Buster at the two other figures standing on the platform: both Team Flare, but one – a bald man - was wearing a white suit, and the other – a red-haired woman – was wearing an odd-looking red dress and a visor with orange lines of energy shooting across it that only seemed to cover her eyes. We wondered what the point of it was if it didn't _at least_ provide some protection to the rest of her face. Maria's Pokemon quickly crowded the only way off the platform on foot, Khrista hovering behind them with a dark look on her face.

Tails went straight for the boy Maria had knocked out as she leveled her Buster at the bald man, who scrambled for one of the PokeBalls at his belt.

The woman quickly grabbed her own. "Hypno! Use-"

Pour lunged forward and bit down on the woman's hand, causing her to shriek in pain and not release the Pokemon from its sphere.

"There's our answer for the cause of the Hypnosis," Maria said darkly. "What are you people planning on doing with the power plant?"

"What makes you think we're going to tell you?" sneered the bald man in reply with a false bravado.

We stepped forward, blades flashing out of our scabbards. Having picked up on the speech habits of the grunts, we responded, "You're going to tell us what we want to know - _with style_ \- or we're going to start cutting pieces off - _with style."_

At this point the man caved completely. "W-w-we were just ordered to redirect the power from the plant! That's all! I-I-I don't know anything else!"

"Trying to find a different power source to use for your weapon other than _Pokemon?"_ Maria snapped.

"How do you know about that?" the woman demanded.

"I know a lot of things. But what I _don't_ know is _why in the Pit you are going through this after what happened in Sinnoh!"_

The woman and the man exchanged looks at that.

"Aliana…." the man said in a warning tone.

"I know," the woman - Aliana - hissed back. She looked at Flare's opponents with a wide grin and let out a laugh. "I commend you on getting this far, but it's not going to be as easy as you think it will be to get the information that you are looking for. Perhaps next time!"

She grabbed something and tossed it down, creating an explosion of smoke and sound that set off other, similar explosions around the power plant's outer platform. When it faded, Aliana and the rest of Team Flare were gone.

Our visor changed from orange back to the red it had been before the smoke bombs went off, having used thermal to watch the proceedings. "Neat trick. Pretty sure they used a psychic type to teleport, of course. We saw a release signature, a Pokemon joined them, and then all three disappeared."

"Yeah. It's an annoying thing, but other teams have done that before." Maria's right arm relaxed out of its Buster, letting her right hand come back. "Next time we run into them, it's probably going to be a different woman with slightly different motives."

"And it's going to be along the route to getting through the League, so we're going to run into them again," Khrista added.

There came a groan off to one side, and the group turned to look over at the blond boy that Tails had landed next to. He was now sitting up and rubbing his forehead, where there was a pretty nasty bruise where Maria's hoverboard had slammed into him.

"That was the worst thing I've experienced," the boy announced. "Not as bad as what happened _before,_ but pretty close." He looked over at the group, and his eyes widened behind his glasses as he scrambled to his feet. "Whoa...Maria White? Is that you?"

Maria rubbed the back of her head. "Wow, it feels like it's been a while since I've heard _that_ family name." She chuckled, although she sounded a little nervous. "Yeah, it's me. You're Clemont, right? The Electric-Type Gym Leader of Lumiose?"

"Yeah! Thanks for saving my hide - I don't know what would have happened if I'd been stuck like that for much longer!" Clemont looked over at us and our _ad'ika_ and frowned curiously. "Who are you, though? I don't think I've seen a Mobian or a Pokemon who look like you two before."

We sheathed our blades and made a waving motion, returning them to Hammerspace. "Our name is Composite. And before he has a chance to tell you off, he's Hunter, a Metroid from another dimension. Say hello _adi'ka._ "

"Hello, who are you?" the Metroid asked.

Clemont stared at the Metroid with wide eyes, seeming to forget his manners until Tails nudged him. As the twin-tailed Mobian looked Composite over with a curious frown, Clemont shot him a look before looking back at Composite and Hunter. "My name is Clemont; I'm the Gym Leader of Lumiose City and an inventor. Normally, I'd be up in Prism Tower, but my renovations seem to have caused the power outage. When I found out that Team Flare was just using it as a cover to suck power from this plant, I came out here to investigate with Tails...and we got caught off guard." He ducked his head a little. "Kind of stupid of me not to have expected it; Team Flare has been causing some trouble around Lumiose, but not enough to really get people's attention, especially after the Second Attempt - everyone thought that no one would try something like _that_ again."

"It's all right," Maria responded. She stepped over to Clemont and helped him get to his feet. "Is the power switched back over to Lumiose, then?"

"Yeah; I took care of that while you guys were getting information out of Team Flare," Tails responded. "I should probably contact Dr. Kintobor and let him know what happened so that we can be prepared if Flare does something like that again. I'm sharing Clemont's lab in the Tower right now - it might be a good idea if you guys came with us so that we can come up with a plan to stop them before they get too far."

"We don't know enough about their full plan, but from what we've gathered, civilian targets are potentially involved. That's a line that can only be crossed in one direction. When that grunt tried to attack Maria, we had to put an effort into making ourselves flip our blade around," We scowled, again considering firing a few shells into a nearby wall to vent.

Tails nodded at our words, and his frown deepened. "You're no ordinary Mobian, are you?"

"Not in the least. We're a hybrid of a slightly cybernetically enhanced Mobian fox and an AI program. To make a long story short, a corporation from another dimension built us to take over the internet, we took offense to that, introduced their containment chamber to a 12-gauge and escaped to another dimension. We visited a few others before coming here. We met him," they gestured towards Hunter, "About two weeks ago. He imprinted on us as soon as he hatched and we decided that he could be useful. I do feel real affection towards him now, and he still sees me as a parent."

Tails put a hand to his chin in thought. "Hm."

"Oh, hey, that's right!" Maria turned to look at Tails. "Do you know a Mobian named Camanion? She's connected to Composite - your sister, right?" Maria looked over at Composite.

"That is how we refer to each other, yes. She and our other sister, Risa, are the templates that Fcon cloned us from. Risa is an AI Camanion created after staying up for a literal week eating nothing but breakfast bars and coffee. Even she doesn't fully understand Risa's code. Risa and Camanion also refer to each other as sisters." Our visor flickered and disappeared, hostilities having ended for the time being.

"Camanion...Camanion...that name's familiar." Tails scratched his head as his eyes narrowed in concentration. "I think there might be a Mobian in Unova with that name. I'll have to double-check with Kintobor to be sure of that, though - and where she might be living specifically."

"I'd guess Castelia," Maria commented. "It's the biggest city, and it has more access to advanced technology than the rest of the region."

"Huh. Actually, access to advanced tech wouldn't matter that much to her. Her home's almost completely self-sufficient. She put a lot of work into that," we shrugged slightly, "But if nothing else, it's a place to start."

"Definitely." Tails nodded. "I'll get into contact with Kintobor when we get back to Lumiose - he might know how to get into contact with her."

"Speaking of Lumiose!" Clemont fished around in his jumpsuit for a moment before pulling out a piece of metal. "I don't know how dead-set you are on battling me for this, but I think I'm gonna give this to you for helping drive Team Flare off and get us back to our senses. It's the Voltage Badge - my Gym's badge."

Maria blinked in surprise. "A-are you sure? I was under the impression that you guys only handed these out if we beat you in battle."

"That was the old rule. The new one basically goes 'if you impress the Gym Leader or do something to help them out of a jam, you've basically earned it.'" Clemont held the Badge out to Maria, who took it with an awed sort of expression. "Besides, we've got other things to worry about - like Team Flare and whatever it is that they're planning. Let's get back to my lab and get into contact with Professor Sycamore and the Freedom Fighters - I think that we're going to need to call in as many hands as possible."

"Plus, we need a better plan than fighting them as we find them," we added, "As the saying goes, 'those who fail to plan, plan to fail.'"

"And even those who plan well end up falling over their own capes in an attempt to stop us," Tails said with a grin. He snorted - most likely at a memory - then twirled his tails together and took off towards the entrance. "Come on! We've got to get back to the city!"

"Right behind you!" Khrista called back. She flew after Tails as everyone else started to move back to the power plant's entrance.

Maria fell into step next to us as they reached the outdoors again, which was, oddly enough, devoid of the strong gusts of wind that had been plaguing the badlands before. "Sounds like you're going to get to meet the rest of my Mobian friends soon."

"Sounds like it," we agreed, transforming into Ada with the familiar green swirl.

"Is there any one of them in particular that you're looking forward to meeting?" Maria caught sight of Tim circling high above their heads, taking advantage of the clear weather and no doubt looking for more red suits that could still be in the area.

"None that I can think of off-hand. Maybe Shadow? He could certainly teach me better use of Chaos, but I'd need an Emerald. At least that's what I think. Usually I have a sort of constantly building buffer, but not in this dimension. I can only think it's because this dimension actually has Chaos Emeralds." We thought for a moment, "Actually, on an unrelated topic, I just thought of this. In science fiction circles, 'red shirts' are the term for the expendable cannon fodder who always end up dead so they don't have to kill off a main character. Wonder if there's a connection?"

Maria blinked a couple times at that, then grinned widely and burst out laughing. "HA! I bet they weren't thinking of that when they put their team together! Hey, Khrista! Lysandre and Maxie aren't Star Trek nerds - they wouldn't have picked red color schemes for their teams if they were!"

Khrista, who was hovering a little ahead and above the group and following after Tails, turned and looked back at Maria. She gave a thumbs-up and laughed back. "I'll have to track down Maxie and tell him that! Oh, he is going to be so mad for not seeing that!"

Maria let out another laugh and gave her friend a thumbs-up in return.

 **Return to 3** **rd** **POV**

It didn't take them too long to reach the other side of the badlands - apparently, the wild Pokemon didn't see much of a point in attacking such a large group as theirs. When they reached the gate on the other side, however, they were met with a rather strange sight: a tall - almost _giant_ \- figure with long, white hair and ragged clothes was standing with his back to them, facing the gate.

Khrista sucked in a breath sharply.

"The Pokémon…the flower Pokémon…the Pokémon that was given eternal life…" The man sighed and shook his head, then disappeared into the gate that led into Lumiose.

"Based on your reaction," Ada said in a tone like the ones that scientists in movies use when stating the obvious, "You know who he is."

Maria looked over at Khrista and raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I've heard about him," Clemont spoke up, "but I didn't think that I'd actually get to _see_ him."

Maria looked over at the Gym Leader. "Who is he, then?"

"That's AZ. People say that he used to be a king of Kalos, but he was cursed to wander the region in eternity. Nobody knows exactly why, but it has something to do with the war that happened three thousand years ago."

"Huh. That could be a problem. Hopefully it doesn't become one though." Ada mused.

"He shouldn't." Khrista shook her head. "AZ isn't working with Team Flare."

"That's a relief. It might be a good idea to find him later and try to talk to him, though. If he knows about the weapon Team Flare is planning on using in Geosenge, then he might be of some help."

" _What?!"_ Tails turned and looked at Maria sharply. "There's a weapon they're—"

"Why?!" Clemont spoke up. "After what happened in Sinnoh, I'd think that people would _know_ not to mess with that kind of thing? Have you told Professor Sycamore?"

"Yeah, back in Courmaine." Maria nodded. She looked at Khrista. "The game storyline is about to go off the rails, I think."

"What are you planning?" Khrista responded.

"First, we find Composite's friend. Then I start poking around for a place where I can talk to Zygarde, Xerneas, or Yveltal – preferably the two that are more likely to end up getting caught for the sake of this weapon than anything else."

"If that's the case, I might as well tell you why Lysandre did it in-game."

Maria looked at Khrista as Clemont's eyes widened sharply.

"Lysandre…?" The Gym Leader looked alarmed.

"He was planning on using it to cause a disaster that would get rid of all Pokémon," Khrista said with a grim tone in her voice.

Maria sucked in a breath sharply at that; Tails and Clemont looked equally alarmed.

Ada reflexively drew her blades before sheepishly returning them. She spoke in a tone to match Khrista's. "Then it's a very good thing I had Hunter disable my ship's weapons. I probably wouldn't be able to resist ordering a kinetic strike."

"Get rid of – _why?_ " Tails shook his head slowly. "Does he know how much damage that's going to do to the world?"

"I think he's only thinking about the fact that getting rid of them will get rid of anyone attempting something like that ever again," Khrista replied. "Think something in him might have snapped when the Second Attempt happened or maybe after, and he decided to go forward with the plan regardless of what happened."

"That is a dangerous and horribly reckless idea." Maria shook her head. "I'm going to talk to Professor Sycamore about maybe getting into contact with the head Pokémon in this region so that they have at least have a warning of what's coming."

"Don't forget what Sina said about people acting strangely."

"It's probably just someone using Hypnosis." Maria started for the gate, then stopped short of it and winced, instinctively putting her left hand up to her temple and digging two fingers into it.

Maria sucked in a breath through her teeth as her eyes snapped open. "Scrap."

"Maria? Are you okay?" Hunter asked worriedly.

"Yes, are you? I felt a psionic disturbance coming from you just now. A powerful one. What happened?" Ada asked, equally concerned.

"I'm fine; I just...I just get visions sometimes." Maria shook her head, then looked over at Khrista. "Do you sense a tension in the air? A sort of…uneasiness that isn't supposed to be here?"

Khrista paused at the question, frowning. "Hmm…well, Sina's comment about people acting strangely has me on edge, but that could just be because of the fact that Team Flare seems to be using Hypnosis on people near them – like what happened in the power plant to Tails and Clemont."

Maria frowned at that, and bit her lower lip. "Um…I dunno. This feels like it could be bigger than that."

"Bigger than hypnosis?" Khrista frowned.

"Maria, what's coming?" Tails asked, concerned.

"…I'm not sure. I've been getting…recurring visions and nightmares where I see people I've seen before with red eyes and all talking about how they're coming to get me. This last one, I could see anyone specifically, but I heard a voice I hadn't heard before." Maria's brow furrowed. "It said, 'lure her in. We will do the rest.' I don't like the sound of that."

Ada growled out, "Well, I for one won't let anyone cause real harm to you, and I'm sure the others agree."

Tails and Clemont nodded in agreement. Khrista looked even more grim than she had before, which was certainly quite a feat, but there was something in her eyes that hinted at an uneasiness.

Maria shook her head. "Whatever's coming, it's connected somehow to what Lysandre is doing with Team Flare. Let's focus on him for now; I'll worry about the red-eyed monsters that I've been seeing when the time comes." She motioned for the others to follow her into Lumiose. "Tails, Clemont, where's your lab? We've got a lot to talk about with Sycamore and the others."

Tails and Clemont exchanged looks, then looked back at Maria and nodded before they took the lead, stepping through the gate and the rest of the group following after them.

Glossary of _Mando'a_ Terms  
 _Shabuir_ : Jerk (obsene)  
 _Ad_ : biological or adopted child, son, daughter  
 _-'ika_ : diminutive  
 _Ad'ika_ : someone else's small (pre-teen) child or your child regardless of age. Also informally to friends equivalent to "guys" Plural is _Ad'ike_  
 _Demagolka_ : War criminal, mad scientist, real-life monster

 **So, that's a chapter. I bet you've noticed that there's been an influx of** _ **Mando'a**_ **terms. I'll add glossaries with all of the new terms at the end of each chapter and soon I'll add the full list on my profile.**

 **So, until next time, this is SabaraOne, logging out.**


	5. Chapter 5: Communication

**Chapter 5: Communication**

Clemont's lab was located below the Prism Tower in the center of Lumiose, which looked a lot like the Eiffel Tower except for the fact that the iron landmark in Composite's dimension didn't have a Gym in it.

Or a high-tech lab that was as large as the one that Clemont and Tails led the group into.

Maria whistled as they stepped into the brightly lit lab. "This is quite the set-up you've got, guys."

"Thanks!" Clemont rubbed the back of his head. "It's not as fantastic as some laboratories – I definitely don't have as much as Dr. Kintobor does – but it's more than enough for me to be able to work on my own projects."

"Which reminds me." Tails looked Maria up and down. "I'd like to make sure that you're still running all right, since it's been a couple years since I've last seen you. I know Dr. Light got a chance to look at you during Smash Worlds, but who knows what's happened since then?"

"We can take care of that after we take care of warning everyone else about Team Flare," Maria responded. "I'm not against it, Tails, but this is something that we need to take care of before anything else."

Tails nodded in agreement, then went over to what looked like a large computer with a jumbotron-esque monitor and started typing quickly. The screen came to life with a whirring noise and fizzed and spat for a moment before a face appeared on-screen: a bald man wearing goggles over his eyes and a gigantic orange mustache that was long enough that the screen didn't show all of it.

" _That's a big screen,"_ Hunter said, _"Almost as big as the one back home."_

" _But it probably gets more legitimate use,"_ Composite said dryly, more irritated at the other users of the display in question then the Metroid.

 _::Tails? What's the meaning of this-::_ The man cut himself short and jolted a little. _::Maria?::_

"Hey, Kintobor." Maria raised a hand in greeting.

 _::...If you're here, there there must be something happening. Who is it this time, then?::_

"Lysandre and Team Flare are up to no good; according to Khrista, they're probably going to activate some kind of weapon that could end up destroying the existence of all Pokemon as we know them." Maria motioned to Khrista, who nodded as Kintobor's bushy orange eyebrows shot up. "We're going to need to get into contact with everybody who was on top of Mt. Coronet, and one other. Do you know a Mobian named Camanion?"

 _::Camanion?::_ Kintobor leaned back a little and started pulling on one end of his mustache in thought. _::Hmm...yes, I do believe so. Why do you want to talk to her?::_

"Our friend Composite happens to be her sister." Maria motioned to Ada, gesturing for her to come closer to the monitor. Ada obligingly stepped forward and crossed her arms over her chest, reverting to Composite. Hunter floated slightly forward, a little uncertain.

"We are Composite, sister to and clone of Camanion."

"And I'm _Oy'an_ , a Metroid and Composite's adopted kid, but everybody calls me Hunter."

Kintobor leaned forward and adjusted his goggles. _::Hm; so you're the sister that she's mentioned in passing. All right; I'll see if I can get her attention; just give me a moment::_ He muttered something under his breath that was barely picked up as he started typing rapidly on a keyboard - something about "I'm not everyone's mediator; I'm a scientist."

The screen fizzed, then split in two vertically, with Kintobor on the left, and another figure on the right: a female Mobian fox. Her fur was mostly blue with purple highlights on her face, ears, and tail tip. She wore comfortable looking jeans, boots that looked like they could be used to fly with jets, and a t-shirt reading 'I'm here because you broke something' in white text on a black background. She didn't seem to be wearing gloves, and her fingers extended claws in agitation. Her eyes were the same alburn as Composite's.

 _::What's the meaning of this? I was replacing a dead drive in one of my boxen when this -::_ her tone changed completely from irritated to happy in an instant, _::- Hey sis, how's it going?::_ She turned slightly and yelled over her shoulder _::Hey Risa, get your tail over here, Kintobor's got Composite on the line!::_

 _::Just a sec, I've almost figured out why the Ki isn't working in-dim… Never mind, I'll be there in a sec.::_ A swirl of blue cube-shaped energy pellets appeared next to Camanion before forming into a red-armored human-like female figure with Ada's piercing blue eyes and hair, though hers fell down roughly to mid-back level, and without Composite's helmet. _::Hello Composite, I was worried when we lost contact.::_ She glanced around slightly taking in the whole group, _::Who are your friends?::_

"I'm Maria, and this is Khrista." Maria motioned to Khrista, who gave a slight nod in greeting. "We're World Jumpers from another dimension. There's something going on here involving Team Flare, and it's going to be bigger than what the two of us were expecting, so I'm planning on pulling out all the stops for this."

 _::How big is it going to be?::_ Kintobor's brow furrowed.

"Not only is Team Flare attempting to use a weapon that's located here in this region to remove all Pokemon life from the planet, but there's something else that seems to be working behind the scenes in order to make things escalate," Maria replied. "I've been having repeated visions and nightmares involving people I know with red eyes chasing after me. I know they're not Mavericks - the people I have seen are all organics - and the voices they speak with are not their own."

Kintobor stiffened suddenly at that. _::How would you describe these voices?::_

"Uh...raspy, I guess. Mostly they just send chills down my spine and make me feel like someone's sending an eye-cold claw down my back." Maria frowned. "Why do you ask?"

Kintobor sat back in his chair; there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. _::I do not know how you managed to gain their attention, but it means that we need to act quickly. What you are describing are the same monsters which I was pitted against a number of years ago, before and during the events that took place on Mt. Coronet::_ He started typing quickly, and the screen fizzed and spat even more as it split off into multiple smaller squares.

"What are you talking about?" Khrista asked, frowning. "You know about the monsters that Maria's been hearing?"

 _::I do, young lady. And you are not going to like what you hear from me concerning them. You focus on Team Flare for now - I will handle those monsters myself::_

 _::What monsters ya talkin' about, Egghead?::_

Maria looked up when she heard the familiar lazy, curious tone, and she grinned when she saw the cobalt-quilled, green-eyed Mobian hedgehog whose square was positioned in the center of the screen. "Hey, Sonic! Long time no see!"

 _::Hey, Maria! It's been a while!::_ Sonic gave a wide grin, a glint in his eye. _::What have we got going on this time?::_

Maria quickly filled in the others on what she and others knew already about Team Flare and what they had come across, mentioning the power plant incident and how Tails and Clemont had both been hypnotized to assist. Composite and Hunter made an unspoken agreement to let Maria ahndle this, since she knew the context better.

 _::Team Flare, hmm?::_ the white bat in the top left corner looked over her nails with an expression of disdain. _::It sounds like they don't actually have all that much of a flare for fashion::_

The red Mobian with dreadlocks on the far middle right snorted. _::That's putting it mildly::_

 _::I could care less about their fashion,::_ Risa commented, _::But they sound like they can fight reasonably well. And in my book, anyone with that sort of weapon and willing to use it is a bad thing.::_ Camanion nodded in agreement and plugged an earpiece into a bulky wearable computer on her wrist and forearm.

 _::Sounds like these guys are worse than Team Galactic::_ spoke up the bright red Mobian in the bottom right corner. _::What's the plan, Champion?::_

"The original plan _had_ been to just go through the Gyms like I did in Sinnoh and clobber them along the way, but now I'm planning on adding on to that." Maria folded her arms across her chest. "I know the weapon is in Geosenge; I've passed through there already. The problem is that I can't get access to the base that Team Flare no doubt has in the area yet; I have to find more Flare cells and clobber them, but I _also_ want to get in touch with the Legendaries of the region, if at all possible.

 _::Kalos' Legendaries….::_ the brown-furred Mobian to Sonic's left frowned. _::Aren't those the Legendaries that represent life and death?::_

"And balance," Clemont spoke up. "Zygarde usually ends up forgotten when compared to Xerneas and Yveltal, but he is still around."

"And since he's the third Legendary in the region like Giratina is for Sinnoh, I want to talk to him, if at all possible," Maria added. "If he knows how to get things right again in the region, I want to be able to help so that we can get make sure things are okay around here as soon as possible so that something like this doesn't happen again."

 _::That would be wise::_ Kintobor stroked one end of his mustache again.

 _::I, for one, see no problem with that plan,::_ Risa added, _::If nothing else, it gives me an excuse to get Camanion out of the house.::_

 _::Besides, I've finished an upgrade for Composite's digitizer systems, but it's too big to send over the net.::_ Camanion grimaced slightly, _::But I can't find much information on these Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde,::_ She prodded at her computer a little more, _::At least nothing that couldn't easily be described as myths.::_

"Unfortunately, that's always the way it is with Legendaries." Maria shrugged. "At best, I'm probably one of the few people who can give confirmation on Legendaries and what they're capable of."

"Same here," Khrista added. "Xerneas and Yveltal are in that gray area where everything's sort of a mix of fact and fiction for now, though; we won't be able to nail anything down until we find them."

"And hopefully you'll find them before Team Flare does," Tails added.

 _::Here's an idea!::_ Amy piped up from the top right corner of the monitor. _::You could talk to Valerie!::_

 _::Valerie?::_ repeated the brown-furred Mobian next to Sonic.

 _::Yeah - she's the Gym Leader in Laverre, and the only one for Fairy-Types as far as I know::_

"Why her, though?" Maria frowned. "I mean, I _assume_ that Laverre's the next Gym that I can challenge, but-"

"Xerneas is a Fairy-Type Legendary," Khrista pointed out, causing Maria's eyes to widen sharply.

Amy nodded. _::According to what I've been hearing, yeah. Maybe Valerie has an idea as to where you could find Xerneas::_

 _::And if you can get me on-site,::_ Camanion rubbed her hands together, _::I've never met a system I couldn't slice.::_

"There is a PokeBall factory that is in Laverre," Khrista commented. "Team Flare might go after that place - they're going to need Pokemon to power the weapon, on top of the electricity they probably stole from the power plant. If they're careless and leave anything behind like a laptop or a connection back to their main database, we can use that to see how far off the rails their plan _really_ is."

"Think you can meet us there?" Maria asked.

 _::I'm sure that Composite's ship can fly here and then I can pilot it back to -::_

"We're going to stop you right there. All your flight experience comes from a gamepad, so no, you're not taking the stick." Composite turned to Clemont and Tails, "You know about a good landing site? Maybe a large helicopter pad or something? Actually, no, about maybe sixty by fifty meters or so?"

"Most one or two-person flight is handled by Pokemon, and considering that Laverre is located in the middle of a swamp, I don't think there are very many good places for people to land, unless you count the factory itself." Clemont tapped his chin thoughtfully. "If anything, it might be a good idea to send a Pokemon to her and have her fly over that way, or she could land here in Lumiose before you go to Laverre. We do have an airport."

Maria reached into her subspace and pulled out her PokeDex. "If Camanion can't catch a plane ride, I'm friends with a number of Flying-Types who would be more than willing to lend a hand."

 _::I suppose…::_ Camanion said, somewhat dejected.

"Tell you what Sis, once Team Flare gets stomped into the ground, we'll give you flight lessons," Composite suggested

 _::Okay!::_ Camanion responded happily. She wandered off-screen for a moment and returned, slipping a coffee mug into Hammerspace.

"So, what are Camanion's options?" Composite asked.

"Either we could arrange for a plane to get her here from where she lives, or I could send one of my Pokemon to pick her up and drop her off in Lumiose or Laverre," Maria replied. She waved the PokeDex around in one hand. "And I've got a number of Flying-Types who would be able to get her here safely, including Pidgeot or Unfezant. I could ask Latios or Latias if they wanted to bring her over, but I doubt that any of the other Legendaries would really feel like it."

 _::Some of us are already in Kalos or at least nearby, so we can help root out Team Flare if you need the assistance::_

"Thanks, Sally." Maria nodded to the brown-furred Mobian. "We might need all the help we can get for this, but we don't know how far off the rails Team Flare is going with their plan yet. I suggest keeping an eye on Geosenge; if more red suits start showing up there, get there as fast as you can to do something about them."

Sonic grinned and gave a thumbs-up. _::You got it!::_

The mostly-black hedgehog above Sonic huffed. _::I doubt that they're going to be as much of a problem as Cyrus was; just make sure that their leader doesn't disappear into the Distortion World like the last one did::_

Maria ducked her head at that, then glared back up at the hedgehog. "Like I knew he was going to be able to make a Red Chain while he was in there, Shadow! That's how the game ended for him back in my home dimension!"

 _::See to it that it does not happen again, then::_ Shadow replied pointedly.

"And if he does somehow manage to make a second try, mark our words, it _will_ be his last. We can guarantee that," Composite responded in a dangerous tone, "But if what we've seen from Maria is true, he won't get the opportunity."

Shadow huffed. _::We'll see. In any case, we will be coming in to clean up after you::_

Maria nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

"Camanion, would you object to a Pidgeot?" Composite asked.

 _::What's that? I've never heard of it.::_

"You need to get out more, when was the last time you went outside? Don't answer that. It's a bird, somewhat resembles a pigeon a little taller than you." Composite answered.

 _::I don't find any objections.::_ Camanion said after a moment.

Maria snorted. "Well, you're definitely not in Kanto, then. I'm going to need an exact location as to where you're living so that I can send Paula to where you live." She held her PokeDex up a little. "If you could give me a city and a location within it, that'd be great."

Camanion tapped some more on her computer before asking, _::How's this?::_ and reading off a string of latitude and longitude coordinates.

Maria inclined her head at the string of numbers, then nodded. "Okay; got it. Paula should be able to get there no problem. I'll get her to fly you over to Laverre - since we're heading there next, you can meet us there. Does that sound good?"

 _::Sounds great! Risa, let's bring down all non-critical systems, I doubt we'll be home for a few days.::_

 _::Yes, Mother.,::_ came the sarcastic response.

 _::I told you not to call me that!::_ At Camanion's complaint, Composite shot a pointed glance at Hunter.

Maria snorted while Khrista rolled her eyes and smirked, and she moved the PokeDex closer to her face. "Hey, Paula? I need you to do me a favor - there's someone I want you to pick up at these coordinates." She listed off the string of numbers, then added, "And land in Laverre city in Kalos; I'll meet you there. Sound good?"

There came a bright chirping noise from the device. "No problem,...I'll be there faster …can go…" There came the sound of flapping wings from the other end.

Maria lowered the PokeDex with an expression of surprise, and she shot Khrista a curious look. "Rayquaza can go Mega?"

"Apparently." Khrista shrugged. "I guess it was a new thing they were adding to the Hoenn reboots; I haven't gotten to those games yet."

"Huh." Maria gained a thoughtful expression, then grinned. "Well, that's good to know."

 _::So, when can I expect your friend?::_ Camanion asked. Her feed had cut to audio only as she presumably ran around the house powering down machines, occasionally muttering something inaudible in response to an error from an especially finicky box.

There came a loud thumping noise from Camanion's audio feed, followed by a loud bird call. _::…You in…?::_

Sonic snickered. _::Sounds like you've got a visitor already::_

"Paula's a Pidgeot; she can be pretty fast when she wants to be," Maria said somewhat smugly.

"Oh, forgot to mention this, do not call her a pigeon and _absolutely_ don't call her a Pidgey," Composite warned, "Hunter once called one of Maria's Pokemon, Delta, a dog. Delta wasn't amused to say the least."

 _::Risa, return!::_ Camanion called, before a swirl of energy was heard.

Composite rolled their eyes, assuming that Risa was doing the same. _::You don't have to be so theatrical about it.::_ Risa's reproachful voice sounded like it was being fed through an additional speaker.

Maria snorted at Camanion and Risa, then looked over at Khrista. "Those two definitely sound like interesting characters. I'll definitely be looking forward to meeting with them."

"Same here," Khrista agreed. "The more help we have in this, the better."

 _::Well, see you soon!::_ Camanion's feed disconnected.

 _::So, you're heading to Laverre to see if you can find Xerneas::_ the red Mobian motioned to the screen - and most likely to Maria. _::We'll keep an eye out for any Team Flare goons that could be sneaking around in other regions and come over if you need the help::_

"Thanks." Maria gave a thumbs-up and smiled a little. "I don't know how crazy things are going to get, but we could need all the help we can get if things get to be too bad."

 _::I'll be keeping my ear to the ground::_ spoke up the red echidna.

"What about the Chaos Emeralds?" Khrista spoke up suddenly. "Team Flare can't have-"

 _::Khrista, it's okay::_ Amy spoke up. _::We've got them someplace safe, and we're keeping an eye on them 24/7. Team Flare's not going to get their hands on them if we have anything to say about it::_

Khrista relaxed her shoulders as she let out a sigh of relief. "That's good."

"We'd recommend keeping a closer eye on them if possible. You wouldn't believe the number of times even the best security can be broken by a lucky amature," Composite suggested, "We'll ask Risa and Camanion for some advice, they do security audits as a side job, and quite successfully too." They turn to Maria, "And don't worry about their eccentricities too much, Risa can usually keep Camanion under control."

"Just don't bother her during a coffee break," Hunter warned, "She's been known to crush hardened pagers in one fist for going off during break."

Maria nodded, chuckling a little. "I got it, I got it."

Shadow's eyes narrowed slightly. _::Are we done here?::_

 _::I think so::_ Rouge responded lazily. The two of them disconnected abruptly.

 _::I'll keep an eye out for anything that Team Flare could be up to in Lumiose::_ Amy volunteered. _::You guys keep going and try to put a stop to them::_ Then she too dropped out.

 _::Keep us posted, Champion::_ the red Mobian gave a thumbs-up, then winked out, leaving Sally, Sonic, Knuckles, and Kintobor.

"You'll come running if things start going sour?" Maria asked, inclining her head at the four of them.

 _::You know I will::_ Sonic grinned widely.

Kintobor huffed. _::I will remain in my lab. I'm sure that whatever you saw in your visions will end up making an appearance, and I intend to be prepared::_

 _::Visions?::_ Sally frowned. _::Maria, what have you seen?::_

"I've...been having reoccurring nightmares," Maria admitted. "People I know with red eyes acting strangely; a vision I had just before getting here had a voice that seemed to suggest that someone was luring me into a trap."

The three Mobians stared at Maria at that.

 _::Red eyes?::_ Knuckles repeated. He gained a grim expression. _::It couldn't be Shadow's-::_

 _::No way, man, those guys were thoroughly clobbered::_ Sonic cut the echidna off. _::It's gotta be something else::_

 _::Have you made any enemies since we last saw you, Maria?::_ Sally asked.

"Not that I'm aware of." Maria shrugged.

 _::Hmm….Well, if you see any sign of them again, contact one of us immediately. It may not be the Black Arms that we defeated before Mobius merged with the Pokemon world, but that doesn't mean that this should be treated with anything less than extreme caution::_ Sally fixed Maria with a determined frown. _::And you will let us know if anything else comes up::_

"I will." Maria nodded a little in response.

 _::Good. If anything happens with these visions or with Team Flare, send a message to Kintobor immediately; we'll know what to do::_

 _::I am not a messenger system::_ Kintobor muttered. He didn't protest, however, and the four of them signed off in quick succession, leaving the monitor dark.

"And just because the Black Arms were clobbered so badly, you can't _completely_ discount them. We've damaged several enemies so badly they shouldn't have come back, only to be caught off guard, both in the get-up-after-you-beat-them and in the come-back-months-later type." Composite added for good measure, "But if they were beaten as badly as Sonic says, then it's _probably_ not them."

" _Who's the red one?"_ Hunter asked.

" _Unknown she must be unique to this dimension. We thought you'd ask!"_ Composite responded.

Maria nodded in agreement to Composite's last audible statement. "Yeah; I plan on believing Sonic. Shadow completely murdered the Black Arms leader, so whatever has been giving me nightmares has to be something else entirely."

"If you're worried about them, then maybe it'd be a good idea to make sure you're still running all right so that you don't break down in the middle of a fight," Tails suggested. He motioned for Maria to come over and sit down on a nearby steel table.

Clemont looked back and forth between the two of them as Maria hesitated, then nodded a little and did as Tails asked. "Wait, what? What are you talking about?"

"After I became the Champion of Unova, I had a bit of an accident on another world," Maria explained. "This armor you see? There's...a bit more to it than that."

She rapped her knuckles against her boots, and the armor popped open, revealing circuitry and shifting mechanical parts.

Clemont sucked in a breath sharply.

"I'm a replicating android, or Reploid for short," Maria explained as Tails started to inspect the exposed circuitry in her feet. "Basically, I can still be human even though I'm physically not."

"...incredible." Clemont's jaw dangled, and he shook his head before regaining his focus, eyes bright and eager. "Who managed to save your life by doing this? I want to be able to meet him!"

"I'm afraid you're going to have a bit of a difficult time of that." Maria didn't wince as Tails closed up her boots and grabbed her left arm, popping the armor on her forearm open. "Dr. Light died a century ago in his dimension; his creations still live, but I don't know how much of a help they would be."

"When did you add this?" Tails frowned at a crescent-shaped metal blade that was in Maria's left arm. "I don't remember seeing this in your original plans…."

"I figured I needed something for close combat, so I had them added by a friend," Maria explained. "There's one in my right arm, too; I switch back and forth between using it and my Buster."

"And it doesn't interfere with anything?" Tails looked up in surprise.

Maria shook her head. "I've had them in for a good year now and they haven't caused me any issues."

Composite smiled and commented, "We should spar at some point. Though we can see where Tails is coming from about wondering how they don't break something."

"Well, I'm more worried about them causing inner working issues," Tails responded as he poked at the inner circuitry of Maria's arm. After watching Maria's fingers and hand twitch one at a time, he nodded in satisfaction and moved over to Maria's other arm, closing her left arm's armor and opening the right as he did so. "But it looks like your systems are adapted to their presence and haven't been damaged by these blades being there. Everything looks well-maintained, too."

"I've had help keeping things maintained," Maria replied. "My cousin, Joshua, was transformed into a Reploid too, so we've been helping each other out."

" _Really?_ " Tails looked at Maria sharply. "How did he-"

"Robotosized on an alternate version of Mobius. I got Dr. Light to look at him, so everything's okay on his end."

"How does that work?" Hunter asked.

" _Oy'an,_ remember when you asked us to tell you if you're being nosy?" Composite asked.

"Yes…?"

"Well, you're doing it now."

"Sorry…" the Metroid slumped in shame, but perked up and went to investigate a bit of lab equipment that had caught his attention.

Tails winced at Maria's comment, brow furrowing. "And he's okay?"

"Yeah, actually. His mind wasn't affected by it, other than the fact that he has to adjust." Maria shrugged. "He's actually taken to it pretty well."

"Huh. I'll have to see if I can meet with him sometime." Tails gestured for Maria to lie down. "Just a couple more things, and you'll be good to go."

"Sweet." Maria lay back, hands at her sides as Tails popped open the chest panel of her armor. Inside, nestled among the wires and moving parts, was a glowing blue circular core that seemed to pulse gently with a pseudo-heartbeat of light.

Khrista's eyebrows shot up. "So _that's_ what's keeping you running."

"Woah, that's pretty!" Hunter zoomed in to get a good look before a harsh telepathic command sent him skittering back to a comfortable distance.

" _That's her nucleus, you wouldn't want someone you don't trust messing with yours would you?"_

" _No_ Bu'ir _, that makes sense."_

Tails shot the Metroid a look of disapproval while Maria's eyes narrowed in annoyance at the little creature's sudden approach and retreat.

"It could _also_ turn you into a crystal statue if you touch it without my permission, so I'd suggest keeping your claws out of my chest, thanks," Maria said crisply.

Hunter made a gulping sound and slid sideways in an unsuccessful attempt to hide behind Composite's head.

"We compared it to someone messing with his nuclei. He got the idea."

"You've had that happen?" Tails asked as he started to look around in Maria's chest cavity.

"Not yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened in the future to somebody if they went poking around without permission."

Tails hummed, then nodded to himself and closed Maria's armor up. "Well, everything looks good. I would like to see how your internal programming is doing, but you don't have all that much time, so I'll let you go and see if I can catch you later."

"Thanks." Maria pushed herself into an upright sitting position and slipped off the table. "Clemont, Tails, you'll keep an eye on things here, just in case?"

"Of course!" Clemont responded. "It's something that I have to do as a Gym Leader anyway - I don't just test challenging Trainers."

"Good." Maria gave him a thumbs-up, then turned and looked at Composite and Khrista. "It's about midday; we can still make it to Laverre and talk to Valerie today yet. You guys ready to roll?"

"You know it," Khrista responded with a grin.

Composite transformed into Ada and nodded. Hunter, fear instantly forgotten, gave the distinctive squeal of a happy Metroid.

"Then let's head out." Maria gave a determined nod.


	6. Chapter 6: Enter Camanion

**Chapter 6: Enter Camanion**

 **POV: 3** **rd**

Maria shook the mud off her shoes as the group stepped out from under the trees and into a little village. "Eugh. I forgot how much I hated crossing through swamps. Now I've got mud _in_ my feet. Hang on." The holographic disguise flickered as she jumped up, and a sudden blast of air from the bottom of her boots expelled a splattering of mud across the path. Maria landed on the ground again a moment later. "There we go. That feels _much_ better."

"I'm surprised you didn't just fly over the more muddy bits," Khrista commented. Her shirt flickered from sky blue back to its normal red with the oddly colored PokeBall on the front. "You could have just used your hoverboard there, you know."

"I know. But I still wanted to go through there on foot because it didn't feel right otherwise." Maria looked around at the collection of ivy-colored houses they had just reached, with the tree in the center of town that looked like it had a Gym built into it in the form of a brightly-colored house. "So, this is Laverre. It looks like it's normally a pretty quiet place."

"Yeah, unlikely place for an important factory," Ada said. She popped into the air herself and released a telekinetic burst from her feet, getting a similar result to Maria.

"I didn't get _my_ feet wet!" Hunter announced cheerfully.

"You don't _have_ feet," Ada responded, rolling her eyes.

Khrista huffed at the Metroid's comment, then looked around. "So, Camanion's going to be here, right? Did we get here before your Pidgeot or-"

Ada hushed everyone, seeing Camanion across the street and a little ahead. She held a white cane-like rod with a red bottom and a mushroom-like tip. It was held angled out in front of her and appeared to be shorter than her by no more than a few inches. "I want to try something." Ada added with a mischievous grin.

Ada stared at Camanion's right arm, where she could barely see her sister's computer. A second later, her voice rang out of the device in a drill sergeant-like tone, "Four o'clock! Twelve Feet!" Camanion jumped and whirled to face them. Just to be certain, Ada made an exaggerated wave and Hunter orbited his _Bu'ir_ 's head like a deranged comet. Camanion waved in return and twitched her ears to the sides, checking for non-existent traffic out of habit. She tapped her cane in front of her in an alternating pattern in front of her back foot with each step as she crossed the street.

" _Su cuy'gar, ori'vod,"_ Ada said to her sister in greeting.

"Mandalorian, 'You're still alive, big sister,'" Hunter translated subconsciously.

" _nuqneH, loQ be'nI'wl',"_ Camanion spat out in response.

"Klingon, 'What do you want, little sister?' Both perfectly acceptable greetings," Hunter added.

"Quiet _Oy'an_ ," both sisters said in unison.

"Hello, Maria and Khrista," Camanion added.

"Hey." Maria gave a wave, smirking a little. "Nice to see you face-to-face."

"Handle the flight well?" Khrista asked dryly.

"Not too bad actually. I was quite surprised in fact," Camanion responded, either not noticing Khrista's tone or not deeming it worthy of a response. "I'll admit, I'm usually not too trusting of unconventional flight methods,... But I occasionally fly with my own admittedly weak telekinesis, so I'm one to talk in that regard."

"I trust Paula pretty well when it comes to flying; they're the first Pokemon that really mastered the move with Trainers on their backs," Maria explained. "At least, in Kanto; I'm pretty sure there are some Dragon Trainers in Hoenn who would say Salamence were the first, but I'm not about to debate that now." She shrugged.

"So we've got a PokeBall factory to hit that's been invaded by Flare grunts," Khrista said. "You up to helping us take them out?"

A swirling cloud of blue energy emerged from Camanion's computer and formed Risa. "Yes, we're ready. Camanion's not much of a combatant, but from what I know, that won't be _too_ much of an issue."

"I can fight," Camanion added, "I just don't have much practice in meatspace."

"Hey Risa, when we're just walking around town and such, could you lose the armor?" Ada asked.

"Right," Risa exploded into a swirl of blue energy and reformed with her armor replaced by an outfit similar to Camanion's.

"The PokeBall factory's on the other side of town," Khrista said, nodding towards the buildings ahead of them. "Now, in the game I played, I had to beat Valerie before I could kick them out, but if we're going off the rails then we should be able to go straight to them. And if the Gym Leaders know how bad the situation could get to be, Valerie may already be there."

"Sounds good to me." Maria cracked her knuckles and grinned. "Let's get over there and knock those goons into next week!"

Ada nodded, "I remember reading that some US military branches, especially the Navy, were known to sometimes illegally make unofficial modifications to improve their defense equipment under the theory that 'if I'm being shot at, I'm not going to care about the rules made by some chairwarmer.' I feel that skipping the Gym temporarily is a similar situation."

Maria nodded in agreement. "Yeah; sometimes, though, obstacles have prevented me from being able to do that in the past. That shouldn't be a problem this time." She looked over at Khrista. "Lead the way."

Khrista gave a slight nod in response, then started jogging through town, past the quaint little houses and the tree-like Gym. The group followed after her and soon reached a set of stairs that led up to three warehouse-looking buildings with a giant PokeBall emblazoned on the fronts.

Standing in front of the doors of the largest of the three with his arms folded across his chest was a man with red hair in a matching red suit.

"Do you have the same role your shirt implies?" Camanion asked dryly.

"Already made that joke sis," Ada murmured.

Maria grabbed Delta's PokeBall from her waist and stepped forward. "Hey, buddy! You let us pass, and my Pokemon and I don't torch you. Sound good?"

The man snorted. "What makes you think that you can-"

A fireball was suddenly launched from Maria's right hand and into the space next to the Flare grunt's head. Ada started in surprise, not knowing that Maria could form projectiles without use of her Buster. Delta popped out of her PokeBall a moment later and waved her stick-like wand, generating a small flame that hovered near the end of her chosen weapon.

"Let us by, buddy." Maria's tone was calm and cool, but she definitely looked like she was ready to follow through on her threat.

The grunt hesitated.

Risa stepped in, "Unless you want the answer to my sister's last question to be yes, I'd recommend you move."

"You're one to talk," Hunter murmured quietly enough that only Ada and Risa's AI hearing picked it up.

"Since when can you do fire?" Ada asked Maria with a hint of nervousness.

Maria summoned another fireball and bounced it on her palm, getting a wide-eyed look from Delta at the action. "Couple years now; it's my main way of attacking people when I don't feel like breaking out my Buster or just whacking people over the head." She crushed the fireball in her palm without flinching, and opened her hand to reveal that her skin wasn't red from the heat.

The grunt gulped at the show, then turned and bolted into the building, leaving the door cracked open behind him.

"Looks like they're going to be on the alert in there," Khrista commented dryly. "You guys ready for this?"

Risa and Ada both transformed. Composite drew their blades from Hammerspace and strapped them to their back. Risa held out her hands, causing different items to rez in swirls of energy. Her right hand held what looked like a cross between a pistol-grip flashlight and a large showerhead and her left hand held a battery pack. She slammed the battery into the grip of the flashlight and pulled back on a cosmetic slide, flipping off the safety. Camanion drew a coil of blue cable out of Hammerspace and flicked her wrist, revealing that it was a whip made of four network cables strung through a D-ring and with a USB cable tied for a grip. "We're all ready," Composite summed up.

Maria gave a thumbs-up and smirked.

"Remember, _non-lethal,"_ Khrista said pointedly. "Battles are mostly fought here through the Pokemon teams that Trainers are working with in order to make them stronger. Just giving Flare grunts hard knocked on the noggins is going to be more than enough."

"If we'd been planning to go lethal..." Risa started.

"...We'd have pulled different weapons," Camanion finished.

"I was going to say that I for one wouldn't have pulled a weapon," Risa corrected, "I've got a… 'Buster' is, I believe, the word you used, that I modeled after a DC-17. And she's got a laser that can burn through most common materials."

"Good on you for thinking ahead." Maria nodded. "Now let's get in there and kick them out before they do who knows what else to the workers who happen to be working here." She motioned for the others to follow after her, then turned and bolted towards the open entrance, her other five PokeBalls exploding open and letting her team out as she cleared the open doorway. The rest were quick to follow on her heels.

The inside of the warehouse revealed that it was, in fact, a factory. Conveyor belts ran in every direction, dropping different kinds of PokeBalls into different boxes, and they were fit to overflowing. Flare Grunts paced up and down the walkways next to the conveyor belts and up the metal stairs to the platform high above their heads. Two small shacks were sitting on the platform at different corners of the room, with Flare grunts standing in front of both of them.

"HEY!" Maria yelled.

The grunts turned their heads at once and looked over at the group.

"Knock 'em down, guys!" Maria promptly lunged forward towards the nearest grunt and slammed a fist into her face, sending the grunt flying back onto a conveyor belt, sending her rolling into one of the boxes full of PokeBalls.

"Intruders!" another grunt cried. "Get them!"

"Shield your eyes," Risa said conversationally. She aimed her flashlight up to a group of grunts on the upper platform and pulled the trigger. A bright multicolored strobe light illuminated the room, causing the targeted grunts to collapse unconscious. "Not as impressive as I'd hoped… but I'll take what I can get." A drop of liquid fell from the platform through the grating, "Now that's more like it."

Khrista lowered her hand as Maria turned to stare at Risa, as did the rest of her team. "What did you do? Cause them all to have seizures?"

"..." Risa thought for a moment, "On second thought, not doing that again. And to directly answer your question, pretty much, yes." She derezed her weapon and thought for a moment more before rezing in a stun gun.

" _That,"_ Composite told their sister using a short-range radio link, _"Was stupid. That weapon may be guaranteed non-lethal in cyberspace, but meatspace is a little different."_

"Please and thank you." Maria turned to look at the stairs leading to the upper platform and motioned for her team to follow her up. She made a beeline for the shack-like building on the far right side of the factory. "I didn't see any big-wigs in that mess; they're probably hiding in one of these two shacks up here!"

"Got it!" Khrista's shirt changed from red to sky blue, and she shot up into the air and landed on the upper platform. "Come on, guys!"

"Risa, you got lucky," Hunter said coldly, floating over from the group of grunts she'd incapacitated, "I only had to heal one of them and they all survived."

Camanion wandered over to a console on one of the factory machines, "Cover me, Composite, I'm gonna see if I can find the server room." She pulled the network cable out of the back of the machine and plugged a device she pulled out of Hammerspace onto the end. She pressed a button on her computer, prompting it to make a slight squealing sound. She pointed it at the cable and the volume increased and the pitch lowered. She pointed her computer towards the wall and traced the low-pitched tone down a hall before setting off, her sisters and Hunter following.

Camanion followed her trace through a couple of halls before the trace died. She waved it slightly before Pointing at a wall panel, "I think there's a switch or access point in there. My trace doesn't go beyond there," She knocked on the panel, making a hollow sound. She rummaged around in Hammerspace for a moment before cursing and saying, "I forgot my screwdrivers. Composite, can you move that panel?"

Composite nodded and rezed their visor. They examined the panel closely for about five seconds before carefully tapping a single spot. The panel crumbled to metal dust.

"You have shatterpoint?" Risa asked, "I really shouldn't be surprised."

"Just go get the toner," Camanion said, slightly irritated, "And Absolutely. No. Puke Ray."

"I got that part," Risa said, ashamed. She shot back down the halls and returned a moment later with the device Camanion had plugged into the machine's cable, "I even plugged the machine back in, because unlike you I don't have to be reminded of the obvious," Risa obviously tried to get some small amount of revenge for Camanion's reprimand.

Camanion twitched her wrist in an eloquent gesture of indifference and asked, "What does this patch panel say?" She gestured with her cane handle at the labels over a half full 24 port switch behind the wall panel.

"Okay, these twelve go to the factory floor, though why they don't just put a switch out there and feed this with one cable is beyond us. These four go to… management offices, and this one leads to… the… server room." Composite touched each cable in turn.

"Okay," Camanion grabbed a splitter and pulled the server room's connection before popping the toner in one slot and the server room into the other and plugging the splitter into the switch. She pointed her computer at the cable and heard the familiar tone. "Got it, moving out!"

"Hey!" Camanion glanced up and saw two figures in red. Since neither of them were her sisters, she lunged forward, drawing her whip and whirling it around. Both of them yelled in pain and raced down the hall away from the enraged Mobian.

"Good job," Composite said, slightly surprised at her skill.

"I've been practicing," Camanion said. She pointed her computer at the wall and continued down a side hall away from the path the fleeing grunts had taken.

"We'll take the next bunch," Composite drew their blades, which were noticeably duller than the previous battle. They encountered another group of grunts, including the two who had taken a more roundabout route at a higher speed. These grunts had deemed it smart to create a barricade. Composite's blades sharpened and flashed green with telekinetic energy, "Ignite!" Composite announced, rapidly destroying the barricade before returning to their dulled state and being used to knock out a few grunts with the flats.

"Get them!" A third group of grunts charged from a side hall. Risa stepped forward and fired Stun Shots of her own from her newly rezed weapon. The group kept on traveling towards the destination facility. The group continued on.

"Here we are," Camanion stopped in front of a door marked 'Server Room.' Risa didn't have to be asked before slipping off to retrieve the toner from the patch panel.

Composite stepped forward and placed their hand on the access card plate. Energy shimmered around their hand as symbols flashed through their vision After a moment, the door swung open.

"What did you do? Bribe the access program?" Camanion asked.

"No, We made it an offer it couldn't refuse."

The group stepped into the room, hitting an almost physical wall of cold from the climate control. Hunter flinched slightly before continuing.

" _Hunter, it's only sixteen degrees, not any colder than the server room back home,"_ Composite reminded the Metroid.

A group of Flare grunts turned away from watching the operators whose activities they probably didn't understand anyway and adopted defensive postures, one going for a Pokeball. Composite used telekinesis to trap them with their hands well away from their equipment.

"Out," Risa said menacingly.

"No!" The lead grunt foolishly put up resistance.

"Out!" Risa repeated.

"No!"

"That was your second chance. The next one's going to be backed up with electricity," Risa requested a third time.

"...No," the grunt was starting to sound unsure.

Risa twisted a knob on ter stunner and fired at the lead grunt. The shot changed from a ball to a crackling bolt that caused the side of the goon's pants to charr. "OUT!"

The grunts needed no further encouragement and ran. Composite, Risa, Camanion, and Hunter obligingly moved out of their way as they raced through the door.

"Shut it down," Camanion said to the operators, "The factory equipment, that is," one of the sysops, more than willing to help stop Flare, immediately pressed a red button labeled 'Emergency Factory Shutdown.' Outside, the ambient noise of the factory quickly faded as the manufacturing kit powered off and returned to standby positions.

"Okay, I've cleared out most of the mess Flare made of the network. It'll take a few minutes for my scans to finish though." Camanion said a few minutes later. She stood up from the chair in front of one of the consoles and lowered it to a human height. "Composite, you want to go back up and see how the others are doing?"

"Sure," Hunter said.

"Okay," Composite added.

"No objections," Risa finished.

The four followed Camanion's memory back to the factory floor. The still factory would have been eerie if it had been night.

"I can sense Khrista in that shack," Hunter gestured towards one of the metal shacks above the floor. The group traveled to it quickly and entered.

Maria looked up as Camanion and the others entered the room, causing the owner of PokeBall factory to jump up in surprise.

"Wh-who-"

"They're with me," Maria said, nodding to the man. "It's all right." She looked over at the rest of the group, still holding onto the black box that Khrista handed her. She looked between Camanion, Risa, and Composite for a moment before holding the black box out to them. "Have you guys seen anything like this? It looks like some kind of temporary mind control device."

The woman who was with Khrista nodded. "The Flare grunts pinned us down and forced them on us." She made a gentle, flowing motion, pointing at the back of her neck. "They appeared to run out as soon as you arrived."

" _Demagolkase!_ Gonna kill 'em! Gonna kill every stinkin' one of them!" Hunter wheeled around and started to fly out the door.

" _Gev!_ " Composite barked, telekinetically stopping the angry Metroid in his tracks.

"I don't _think_ we've seen anything like that," Camanion said, trying to get a good look at it

" _Definitely_ not," Risa confirmed.

"I may be able to do something with it, but in order to do any real analysis I'll need a proper lab," Camanion added. She took the device and felt on it for a moment before pulling out a wire from Hammerspace and plugging it in. Immediately her computer started to chatter and squeal. "Baud barf, Hey Risa, what're the settings?"

"What're you configured for?"

""9600, no parity, eight data, one stop."

Risa listened to the noise coming out of the computer and looked at the symbols rapidly scrolling along it display. "...Try 38400," Camanion made an adjustment to her computer. The pattern in the noise and scrolling changed, but didn't resolve. "Okay… half parity," The pattern changed again, "Never mind… no parity and… 19200." The noise resolved itself into a mostly recognizable stream if information, but major parts of it were repeated twice, "Okay, go to half parity and that should do it." The signal resolved completely and Camanion and Risa began to examine the code of the device.

"They had to set the configuration of their serial link with the device." Composite explained, "Set a few settings wrong, especially line speed, and you get that mess."

"Are you sure that...plugging that in there is a good idea?" Maria asked nervously, frowning. "We don't know what that's going to do."

Camanion snorted, "You take me for an ameteur? I'd say I've been doing this since before you were born, but that's not quite true. This machine is actually several computers in a single box. The serial connection is completely airgapped from the main processing node. I've had several of my friends - including a few of the can't-click-a-mouse variety just in case - try and break this thing. None of them could. I built this thing with security in mind. Not even Risa can just waltz in and out and she _lives_ in this machine."

Risa looked at some of the code and grimaced. She pointed to a particular part and simply stated "Job security."

"Yeah," Camanion shuddered, "I swear, this makes Malbolge look straightforward, and that programming language was _designed_ to be impossible. I'll need a day or so to figure it out entirely, but it mostly seems to be instructions to keep the factory running. Once I finish analyzing the code I'll have to crack it open the rest of the way and get a good look at the guts."

"Sounds like they were using these things to keep people quiet," Khrista commented. "Like obedient tin soldiers or something."

Maria shuddered, her armor rattling a little at that. "Primus." She looked over at the woman. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that; it's never fun."

The woman looked at Maria, inclining her head slightly at that. After a moment, she nodded. "No; to have your will stripped away from you never is. I assume that you are Champion Maria?"

Maria nodded.

"I am Valerie, the Gym Leader if Laverre. I came up here to investigate when I saw Team Flare move in - unfortunately, it seems they were expecting me. My Fairy-Types and I were met with Swalot and Toxicroak that took us down rather quickly, as my Pokemon are weak to Poison-Types." She patted the three PokeBalls that were at her waist carefully.

Maria's eyebrows shot up at that. "We'd better get them to a Pokemon Center, then - and I need to talk to you about something, too. Do you think we could take care of that while your team is being looked over or…?"

"I would be open to it, yes. We need to settle these issues quickly, or else we will all be blown away by what Team Flare is planning." Valerie turned and gave the rest of the group a nod before stepping out of the shack and heading out of the factory.

"I'm gonna go with her." Maria started for the door. "If she can get us in contact with Xerneas, then we need to do this quickly." She looked over at Camanion, Composite, and Risa. "If you guys want to stick around here, that's fine. We'll wait for you at the Pokemon Center in town." With that, Maria slipped out, followed closely by her team and Khrista.

"Mind control… That's some nasty stuff. Hey Composite, hold this." Camanion unplugged the box from her computer and tossed it over to her sister.

"Why us?" Composite asked, slipping the device into Hammerspace.

"Because you're immune to mind control and I don't want to risk plugging it in by accident when I pull it out."

"Good point. Shouldn't your scans be done?"

"Yes, we should return to the server room. Keep your weapons on standby just in case," Camanion left the room and started to go down the platform towards the server room.

"Wait a sec, I want to check on the grunts I attacked earlier," Risa said worriedly. She ran down the platform and came back a moment later. "Okay, they're gone, which means they probably left on their own."

"Good," Camanion nodded and set off.

Composite and Hunter dropped back slightly by unspoken agreement. "I wonder what Maria ment when she said that mind control isn't fun. And she said something similar last night."

" _Ad'ika,_ you are not to ask her about it. That story will come out in its own time, _if_ it comes out at all." Composite gave the Metroid a stern look, " _Tayli'bac?"_

" _Elek, Bu'ir,"_ Hunter confirmed their instructions.

The four reentered the server room and Camanion immediately walked over to a console displaying the result of her scans. She clicked on the terminal for a moment before speaking. ""You know, this place's network security isn't half bad. It could use some work, but there isn't even a theoretical security system that doesn't need any work. Not even mine"

"Hey, how'd you do that?" A Flare grunt stepped out from behind a server rack, hands already in the open.

"Oh, that? I ran a quick auditing package I devel-" She turned slightly and noted that the person talking had a bright red uniform and went for her whip. "Who are you? Why didn't you run with the rest of the Flare goons?"

"Because I'm a Flare goon who wants out, and your group looked like my ticket, so I hid behind a cabinet-"  
"Rack," Camanion corrected.

"-Rack and decided to wait until my, quote 'friends' were driven off. But then I saw you doing your thing and decided to watch."

"And you want to work with me specifically?"

"Yeah, I've always loved computers, and you're really good with them. I want to know all the cool things you can do with them!"

"Well,, I've been looking for an apprentice. So PFY-"

"My name's Switch," the former Flare grunt corrected

"No, as far as I'm concerned, you're PFY when you're on the job until you earn the right to stop being called an apprentice, your buddies mangled one of the databases, so go help these people," Camanion gestured towards the factory sysadmins, "Get the backup tapes for the personnel database and load them into the jukebox."

"Okay," Switch responded, "Right on it ma'am!"

"It's Camanion to you, I'm not one to stand on ceremony."

"Got it Camanion!" Switch and the sysadmins headed towards a side room. Hunter followed them, guessing that it might be more interesting and wanting to get a start on grilling the former grunt for information.

"So Switch, do you know anything we should about Flare's plans?"

Switch jumped slightly, "You can talk?"

"Yes," Hunter made an exasperated noise, "And I'm not a Pokemon, I'm a Metroid from another dimension. Composite, the armored one with the tail, is my _Bu'ir_. I hatched on a space station and imprinted on them. They're a cyborg from yet another dimension, so they're referred to in plural unless they transform."

"Transform?"

"You'll see. Anyway, do you know any good info about your former bosses?"

"Not really. I know that the higher-ups are planning to use a weapon to wipe out all Pokemon to 'make the world a better place,' but I left right after discovering that. I'm not going to have anything to do with it. Honestly don't remember why I joined in the first place. It made sense at the time." Switch shrugged and grabbed an armload of tapes that the admin told him to collect.

" _N'osik,_ that's all? Anything helps. _Bu'ir_ and _t'ad bavodu'e_ can use almost any information to get more. A phone number? Email address? Anything?" Hunter and Switch watched as one of the admins took a tape from Switch's pile and loaded it onto the tape stacker before queuing it up to run. Switch placed the tapes on a nearby bench after Hunter pushed a metal box well away, "Don't place the tapes on this thing, it's a magnetic bulk eraser."

"And I can guess what it does," Switch carefully inserted the tape from the top of the pile into the stacker, "So, can you help me with this, or are you going to just keep asking awkward questions?"

"Oh, I don't have that much fine control…" Hunter spun, glancing around, and lowered his voice conspiratorially, "Don't tell _Bu'ir,_ but I've been working on telekinesis of my own so I can help them better."

"Why not?" Switch continued to load the jukebox until his pile ran out. The admin tapped on the keyboard of the backup server, initiating recovery of the corrupted database.

"Because I just want to have something they don't know about, no real reason." Hunter bobbed his mandibles in a shrug.

"I feel you there pal." Switch, Hunter, and the admin returned to the main server room.

"So, how did it go PFY?" Camanion asked.

"Just fine," both Switch and the admin said in unison before glancing at each other. "The restore's running fine and should be done in a few minutes. I was planning to do a backup check soon anyway, it just turned out to be more real than I expected," The admin continued.

Camanion laughed, "Don't I know it! One time, one of my users decided he'd bring a game disk from home so he could play during his break…"

 **Time Cut**

Composite's family and Switch approached the Pokemon Center just as Valerie exited. Switch hung behind nervously and stayed out of sight of the entrance.

Khrista noticed them and turned to face them. "Did you guys find anything?"

"Not much. None of them left anything except for the box. Other than that… Hey Switch, come in, they won't bite!" Camanion said, directing the second part to her new apprentice. Switch nervously stepped into the Center, hands already in the open. "This is Switch, he is a, quote 'Flare goon who wants out,' end quote. He claims not to have any information we didn't already have, but I'm still going to get whatever he has. One time I got the password for my client's CEO's computer starting with nothing but the number for the front desk. And if Flare's information security people are as useless as the rest of their rent-a-thugs - no offense Switch - then I should be able to get a lot more than the big guy's laptop password."

Maria started to move towards Switch, but Khrista beat her to it and moved to stand in front of the Flare grunt, who stepped back nervously.

"There have been grunts who have wanted to get out of their positions in the past," Khrista said. "I'd suggest you find a change of clothes later so that you don't stick out among a crowd of civilians." She paused. "You may not think that you're able to tell us anything, but I think you could still help. The floor plan of your base, for example, or where we could find other groups of Flare grunts, if you know that sort of thing."

Switch nodded, "I already thought of that, I'll be visiting a clothing store later. I don't have floor plans of the base, but I do however have the address of the email server. I'm sure Camanion can do something with that." He rattled off a web address, which Camanion dutifully jotted down.

"Kid, you're giving me too much cre- Whoa, crawling horror alert! In fact I actually _can_ do something with this." Camanion almost lept back at the return alerts she was getting.

"What?" Risa asked dryly, "Is it running a copy of sendmail older than you?"

"Try a web server with IIS 4… With Frontpage." Camanion winced, "More wide open than my honey pot machines."

Risa nodded sagely, "Crawling Horror indeed" She explained to the others, "To make a long story short, IIS 4 has a _lot_ of exploits. This one's biggie is Frontpage, which is configured to allow anyone to upload to the server without logging in."

"...And it's vulnerable to the infamous PHF hole, so I can upload programs and make the system do whatever I want so long as the web server has permission to do it… And it's running as admin…" Camanion thumped her head on a nearby wall.

"So to make-" Risa started.

"Domain admin," Camanion added.

"... So to make a long story short, we _own_ the Flare network." Risa summed up. "We can get almost any information they have, can crash any system," She glanced at the output of Camanion's scans, "Wow. They really messed up here, we can literally _explode_ some of the servers if we wanted to. Of course, that's a trick you save until right before the final assault."

"Considering that Lysandre pretty much owns all the public research and development labs in Kalos, it's pretty incredible that he left his network so open," Khrista commented. "Something is _definitely_ messing with his head in order to cause that."

Maria frowned. "Yeah, for sure. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with those black boxes _or_ my visions - if there's someone leading him to do these things…."

"Maybe he doesn't want to and he's making some things easy for us to access on purpose?" Khrista suggested.

"Maybe...but I've never attacked a team through their network before, so I don't know…." Maria trailed off, then shook her head. "Let's think about this later; we've got somewhere we've gotta be. Where's Team Flare gonna pop up again, Khrista?"

"Frost Cavern, in the next town over." Khrista nodded to the door. "Considering it's early afternoon, we might be able to get there and take care of things there before nightfall, then head for Anistar the next morning."

"Sounds good." Maria nodded. She looked over at Camanion and the others. "You guys ready to head out?"

"Yes," Ada nodded, having transformed sometime during the conversation.

"I'm ready," Camanion confirmed, "Though you're right. It is suspicious that the network would be that open. The web server's pretty common, I see that all the time, but you _never_ run it as Domain admin. I've never seen that before. In fact, the installers tell you _not_ to do that."

Risa transformed into her human form, "Yeah, let's go."

"We're going to have to keep an eye out for more mistakes like that as we keep beating them out of the places they've hunkered down in," Maria noted. She motioned for the group to follow her out of the Pokemon Center and towards the only other visible exit out of town, which led to the east. "Here's hoping they don't try to snag us with anything unexpected."

Ada and Hunter nodded, "Here's hoping."

Summary of _Mando'a_ terms  
-e, -se (word ends in vowel), -'e(rarely): Plural suffix  
Gev!: Stop! (From authority)  
Tayli'bac?: Understood? (Aggressive, closer to "Do I make myself clear?" then "got it man?")  
Elek: Yes  
'Lek: Yeah  
Su cuy'gar: Hello (literally "So you're still alive.")  
Su cuy: Hi  
Vod: Sibling, brother, sister, friend/comerad/brother-in-arms  
Ori'vod: Older sibling, best friend  
ba'vodu: parent's sibling, aunt, uncle (plural bavodu'e)  
T'ad: two  
Nu -, n'-, ne -: negative prefix, selection is up to the speaker  
Osik: dung (obscene)


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **POV: 3** **rd**

Dendemille Town was quaint and chilly, when compared to the warmer temperature Laverre had been. It was also late in the afternoon by the time they had gotten past the autumn-esque Route they had passed through previously.

Maria stopped a short distance down the road away from the gate. "All right, guys, we've got two options: either we could bunk up in the Pokemon Center for the night, go after Team Flare in Frost Cavern-"

"-which is to the north of here," Khrista butted in, motioning up to a path that went around a windmill and over a nearby river.

"-or we could split up and have some of us wait at the Pokemon Center while the rest of us tackle the cold cave so that not everyone finds themselves in danger of getting frostbite," Maria finished. "I'm personally up for jumping in there as soon as possible, but I want to know what you guys think about our options before we rush in there."

"Either way, I'm not going in there," Hunter said with a nervous squeal, "I may be more cold resistant than most members of my species, but that's like saying that one type of grass is easier to pull up than another, it's all relative,"

"Not quite a valid analogy, but I take your point," Ada responded, "I'm willing to let you stay in the Center. I'm going to drive them out."

Camanion pulled a coat out of Hammerspace, "And I'm also more cold resistant than most Mobians, I'm going. Switch, if you want to stay behind with Hunter, you're welcome to."

"And I'm sticking with Camanion," Risa added.

Switch shivered slightly, "I don't see how the grunts can stand to be in a sub-zero cave with just their uniforms, they aren't all that well-insulated. I'm going to stick with Hunter."

Maria nodded. "All right, then. Find the building with the red roof and wait in there for us. If Frost Cavern's like any other caves I've been through, we're going to be gone for a good while. We'll probably stumble in long after the sun sets."

"I can wait," Switch said.

"I'll get a bit bored, but I can wait too," Hunter confirmed.

"Well," Camanion smirked, "If you're going to be bored, you can always help Switch with these," she pulled a tablet out of Hammerspace and beamed some files from her computer, "These are all the case files I worked on when I was in your position, ranging from simple password resets to difficult clients and all the way up to serious infosec stuff. See how many you can do, I'll check later."

Ada nodded, "And if something happens, contact me with telepathy in _Mando'a_ , just in case someone's listening… Actually, make that D'ni. Very few people outside of the Myst dimensions know it _written_ , let alone _spoken._ "

"But D'ni's too hard!" Hunter complained

"All the more encouragement not to bother us unless it's urgent. _Tion suvarir?_ "

Hunter sighed, _"Elek, Bu'ir._ "

Maria gave a nod, then looked over at Khrista. "Let's get moving."

"Right." Khrista motioned for them to follow her up a set of stairs and over to a bridge that led across the river. They made their way past the windmill that was on their side of the bridge and were instantly hit with a blast of cold wind as their feet crunched down snow.

Maria released a blast of heat a moment later, and the cold wind abated slightly.

"I figured that we would be seeing snow as soon as I heard Frost Cavern, but I didn't think I'd see this much of it!" Maria looked around at the place where they'd ended up, then started along a well-worn, compacted path of snow towards a wooden bridge nearby, leading over another body of moving water. Since she was taking the sphere of heat with her, she ended up forcing Khrista, Ada, Camanion, and Risa to follow after her quickly in order to keep in step. "I mean, I knew that the weather was unpredictable…"

"It's probably because this area's so close to the mountains that are at Kalos' eastern border." Khrista pointed up at some spiky shapes on the horizon. "The snow's coming down from up there."

Camanion grimaced and pulled her cane out of a snow drift. "Knew I should have switched the tip. Ah well, little late to think of that eh? Make a note of that Risa."

"I'm not your calendar, make your own darn note," Risa glanced around nervously, as if she was anticipating an avalanche or something similar.

"Yeah, I can see where the mountains would cause this," Ada responded to Khrista, recognizing that her sisters were simply arguing for the sake of argument and ignoring it.

"All things considered, I'm not surprised; it's just that I wasn't expecting to walk right into a snow drift," Maria replied.

As they crossed over the wooden bridge, the planks shook under their feet a little as something large and brown backed up a path that intercepted the path that led away from the wooden bridge. A young man with purple hair and a rather fancy outfit was standing in front of a pair of rather large tusks, tugging on a set of reins in order to get the larger creature to stop moving.

"Mamoswine, calm down!" The Trainer tugged at the reins. "Don't cause another hail storm, please!"

The mammoth-like Pokemon snorted and kept trying to pull back, but it looked like Mamoswine was holding back from using all of his strength against his Trainer. He stopped moving and sat down abruptly, causing the ground to shake a little as a result of it.

"There's something going… not going to leave Abomasnow.. with it alone," the Pokemon huffed.

"What's an Abomasnow?" Ada asked, "And who are you?"

The Trainer turned at Ada's voice; he blinked in surprise at the question. "A-an Abomasnow is a Grass and Ice-Type; there's one living up in the Frost Cavern." He pointed down the path that turned to the left after it left the bridge. "My Mamoswine is a friend of its. My name's Aiden, by the way." He frowned. "...why would you ask Abomasnow?"

"Mamoswine mentioned something about Abomasnow and something going on in the cave," Maria explained, causing Mamoswine to look at them sharply.

"...you...you can understand him?" Aiden asked in surprise.

"It's something that I've been able to pick up," Maria replied. "So, yes, I can understand him. What could be going on in Frost Cavern right now that has Mamoswine worried about Abomasnow?"

Aiden hesitated. "To be honest, I'm not...entirely sure? I mean, there were a number of people who came by here complaining about the cold, but their choice of clothing - fashion _and_ layers - was more than a little atrocious. Before I knew it, Mamoswine wouldn't go any further towards Anistar and now he doesn't want to budge." He sighed and shook his head. "I was hoping to get home before night fell; looks like that's not going to happen."

The girls exchanged looks at Aiden's words, then looked back at him. Camanion spat out a vile Klingon curse.

"I think I know why your friend is so worried," Maria said. "We'll take care of the problem - don't worry about that. Those bozos who went into the cave aren't going to be able to get away with what they want to."

Aiden blinked in surprise at that. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Let's just say Team Flare just found themselves on thin ice and leave it at that." Maria grinned.

"Can't wait," Camanion smiled evilly, "I've been practicing some telekinetic abilities that _might_ just cause some havoc," She pulled her hand back, glowing with energy before thrusting it forward, releasing a massive wave that seemed to do very little, "...So long as none of them call my bluff that is."

Ada smirked and released a small burst with a lazy flick of her finger that drilled a nice-sized hole in a nearby ice wall, "Don't bite off more than you can chew _ner vod_."

Maria's and Khrista's eyebrows shot up at the display of power; Maria's eyes widened a moment later.

"Oh, yeah! That reminds me!" Maria reached into her subspace as she tapped on two PokeBalls. "Pour, Flora, I have something to give you two."

The blue monkey and the little Fairy-Type with her flower materialized from their PokeBalls and instantly shivered in the cold.

"What do you want to give… so important now?" Pour shivered.

Maria held out her hand, palm up, revealing the fact that she happened to have two long, large stones resting there. One was a deep blue, and almost seemed to be made of water. The other had a soft light glowing inside.

"These are evolutionary stones," Maria explained. "Water and Shiny, respectively, for the both of you, if you want-"

Pour snatched the Water Stone out of Maria's hand before she could finish explaining, and he was suddenly encased in a bright white light as his entire form suddenly grew in size. When the light faded, Pour was a little bigger and more long-limbed than he had been a moment ago.

"Cool! … city, here I come!" Pour grinned.

Flora, on the other hand, hesitated. She flitted towards Maria's hand and back, putting a small hand to her chin.

"I don't know if I should," Flora said, worriedly.

"It's your decision," Maria replied. "I'm not going to force it on you. If you want time to think, that's fine. Just let me know whether or not it would be a good idea to evolve now, when we're going to be taking on Team Flare in a moment."

Flora gripped her flower a little more tightly, still looking uncertain. She twirled the stem of the flower in her hands for a moment, then quickly reached out and grabbed the stone.

The resulting evolution was more drastic than Pour's had been. Flora quickly increased in size to the point that she was two feet shorter than Maria, losing the flower in the process. When the light faded, it was clear that Flora and her orange flower had merged together, creating a rather elaborate headdress around Flora's head and encasing her body in a green dress. Two large leaves extended out from the bottom, much like the leaves at the base of a tulip or a daffodil.

Flora looked down at herself with an expression of surprise. "Whoa!"

"Never seen a Pokemon evolution," Camanion commented.

"Just be glad Hunter isn't here, he'd either be orbiting uncomfortably close, firing questions faster than a Vulcan cannon, or both. Or more likely being ordered to stop whichever one it is." Ada added.

"It is pretty cool when it happens." Maria patted Pour on the head, brushing some of his fur - now looking like bright blue dreadlocks - out of his face. "These two are part of the group that need items in order to make it happen; I'm just glad that I happened to have both stones on hand for when the time was right for it."

"And Hunter can go and bug Professor Rowan about it," Khrista added. "He's a prof out in Sinnoh who studies Pokemon evolution, so he'd know something about it."

"We can talk about that later, though." Maria looked over at the cave entrance that was in the distance. "We've gotta get in there and kick Team Flare out before they do something stupid. Come on." She started towards the cave entrance, Pour and Flora right behind her. Khrista was quick to follow after them.

Camanion muttered something and pulled her cane out of another snow drift.

"Hey sis," Risa asked, voice dripping sarcasm, "You want me to guide you up?"

Camanion's answer was to make a rude gesture recognized only by Ada and Risa and quickly catch up with the group.

It didn't take them too long to reach the cave entrance. Maria stopped just before going inside.

"Just a warning to you guys." Maria nodded to Camanion, Risa, and Ada. "Caves that are home to Ice-Types - like this one - have really, really slippery floors. It's almost like an ice rink in there sometimes, and they can be so slick that you'd be sliding across the floor without any ability to stop until you slam into a wall or reach a spot that isn't slick. You'll know when you reach a slippery spot - the entire floor reflects like a mirror."

"Course, some of us can fly over those areas, but it could be a problem if you can't," Khrista added.

Ada floated up on a cushion of telekinesis, Camanion's boots started to hum slightly and she hovered on the jets, and Risa's boots extended ice spikes with an audible click. "No problem," Camanion responded.

Maria and Khrista stared at the show of technology and ability, as did Pour and Flora. The two Pokemon exchanged wide-eyed looks while Maria shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, that'll work," Maria said simply.

"Where does the Guilmaster find these kinds of people?" Pour muttered to Flora, wide-eyed.

The Fairy-Type shrugged helplessly in response.

"Well, now that that's settled, let's get in there and hunt down some Flare grunts before they make a mess of the habitat and find themselves frozen solid!" Maria waved for the others to follow her with a cheery grin, and she stepped into the cave.

 **POV: Composite**

We reverted into Base Form, as we followed Maria's party, glancing around to get as much information about the terrain as possible. "Wow, it's pretty nippy in here," Camanion commented, but she didn't have any other reaction.

"It usually is." Maria looked back at our group. "Okay, my guess is we have to get pretty deep into the cave before we find what it is that Team Flare is looking for."

"Probably that Abomasnow," Khrista said. Her shirt swirled into a mix of bright red and sky blue; the tamped-down snow under her feet sizzled a little. "From what I remember of the game, they were coming after it because it had a lot of energy to expel."

Maria stiffened at that, as did Pour and Flora. "They're planning on using him for the weapon?"

"More than likely, yeah. They never get him, though. We'll be able to get to him pretty quickly, if we can fly over the ice puzzles." Khrista grinned. "Race you guys there?"

"I don't see why not." Maria's expression became sly.

"Except that half the party doesn't know the path," Camanion pointed out.

"Everyone except for Khrista is in the dark," Maria responded, jabbing a thumb at her friend. "It'll be easy enough; all we gotta do is follow the trail of red suits and we'll be fine! These places aren't mazes."

As though Maria had spoken the magic words, a redheaded woman poked her head out of a cavern entrance on a section of the cave that was higher up than the rest of the area, then let out a shriek and scrambled back out of sight.

"Actually, if we take that tunnel and just head straight, we'll be able to get right into the thick of them." Khrista pointed up to the cave the woman had just disappeared down.

"Excellent." Maria rubbed her hands together. "Pour, Flora, you might want to disappear into your PokeBalls for a bit."

The two Pokemon nodded, then retreated into their PokeBalls before Maria shifted over to her armor and jumped up, activating a pair of jets in her boots that allowed her to get up onto the higher section of the cave with ease.

"Come on!" Maria motioned for the others to jump up after her.

We leapt up alongside Camanion, Camanion using both her jets and telekinesis. Once Camanion was up, Risa exploded into blue energy and reformed next to her sisters. "I can't fly, but I _can_ teleport to Camanion's location, so that usually makes up for it."

Maria gave a thumbs-up as Khrista hovered up and joined them. "Works well enough here. Let's get those Flares before they try to make off with that Abomasnow - which, considering how abysmal their teams are, I highly doubt is going to be able to happen."

"You kidding?" Risa snorted, "They don't need our help failing, we're just giving it to them anyway!"

Maria snorted and grinned in agreement. "You got that right. Come on!"

Our group quickly moved through the tunnel, climbing stairs carved into the stone. When they reached the large cavern on the other side, the first thing they saw was the slick, icy surface that Maria had warned them about. And, beyond that, was a small group of five Flare grunts and a woman with blue hair standing in front of a large, white Pokemon creature with green hands and feet.

Maria cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hey, Flare bozos!"

Their heads turned at Maria's cry.

"Go!" Khrista barked. "Let's take them out before they get that Abomasnow!"

"I call dibs on her!" Maria pointed at the woman with blue hair, then shot over the ice and towards the woman, grabbing a PokeBall from her belt.

"Camanion, you feel the ice?" Risa asked.

"I _see_ the ice," Camanion drew her whip and started to chase down a grunt, angling her feet forward for additional speed

"Just checking," Risa rezed in her stun gun, which had been modified with a longer barrel and scope, and started picking off grunts without bothering to move.

"Boring, we're going in," we drew our dulled blades and joined Camanion on the ice.

The blue-haired woman sighed. "Really? I had thought that the Trainers would have been told to _keep away_ from the cave." She tossed her own PokeBall, releasing a blue and yellow, hound-like Pokemon. A growl from the creature sent sparks flying from his fur.

"That's not gonna stop us." Maria threw out a PokeBall. "Gol, you're up!"

The short, round golem Pokemon leapt out from his PokeBall and instantly dropped into a ready stance in front of his opponent.

Khrista flew across the ice and caught sight of a Flare grunt releasing a short, hunched-over Pokemon with purple skin that looked somewhat frog-like. She whirled and kicked out, sending a slash of air in the Pokemon's - and Trainer's - direction. The attack sent them flying back into a wall, the Pokemon hitting his Trainer in the process. The two slumped to the ground, knocked out.

"Controlled Magnitude; concentrate on the Manectric," Maria said. "We're in a cave, Gol."

"Understood." Gol slammed his fists together and slammed them into the ground. A slight ripple came out from the earth and started towards the Manectric, creating small cracks in the ground as it went. The Manectric stumbled, but didn't collapse as a result of the move.

We started to chase a grunt towards the ripple before stopping and turning him parallel to the crack with a wave of our hand and continuing the pursuit.

The grunt yelped as his foot got stuck in a smaller crack branching out from the main one, falling onto his face a moment later. We telekinetically disentangled his foot and sent him sliding away from the danger zone.

"Shadow Punch!" Maria barked.

Gol started moving forward, his fist becoming covered in a shadowy energy that cause the temperature to drop a little.

"Crunch," the woman responded.

Manectric growled, then lunged forward, opening his mouth wide. Fist met teeth, and the resulting small explosion threw up a small cloud of snow before the two combatants came flying back out of it.

Only one of them was bigger than when he had gone in.

"Whoa!" Maria quickly scrambled out of the way as the taller golem came skidding to a halt; now taller than he had been (and taller than Maria by a good four feet), Gol looked more like a warrior and less like a toddling child. " _Man,_ Golurk are huge!"

The snow cleared, revealing Manectric barely holding on. His legs gave out a moment later, though, and he collapsed.

Khrista sent another Air Slash at another grunt who was trying to sneak up on Maria from behind; she looked back and gave her friend a thumbs-up.

"Whoa, how'd you get there?" Risa yelped as Gol stopped his slide next to her, startling the AI enough to miss a shot. Her target's hair poofed up before she was knocked unconscious by the next energy ball.

Camanion shot past Risa's last target, chasing a grunt of her own, "I'd make a Saiyan joke, but the rent-a-goons wouldn't get it!"

"Gol evolved!" Maria called back with a wide grin.

The blue-haired woman returned Manectric. "Tsk. Of course you would be the ones to stop us. Don't you understand that we are the only ones who are meant to survive? Therefore, we should have what we need in order to be able to survive."

"You're not going to be able to get that weapon activated," Khrista snapped, moving to hover in front of the woman. "Not if we have anything to say about it, _Mable._ "

Maria sucked in a breath, eyes widening at the name before they narrowed into slits. "Oh, no. That woman better _not_ be a counterpart to Mabel Pines, or else I'm gonna whack someone over the head for this."

"Different spelling, Maria!" Khrista called over.

Maria blinked a couple times. "Oh. Well, that only makes it a little better."

Mable inclined her head slightly at that. "I don't know who you're referring to, and I don't care. If you want to keep us from achieving our goal in _this_ location, then fine. We have agents in other places who are collecting Pokemon with enough energy for us."

The Abomasnow that had been previously cornered let out a low warning growl and started moving forward, towards the Team Flare members. "You will get what's coming to you - all of you."

Maria nodded slightly. "You're not going to be able to achieve whatever it is that you're planning with that weapon - be it wiping out all Pokemon or something else entirely. Count on us to stop you before you can."

"Last time we read about a group like you, they ended up in the rainforest with only their clothes and scrap metal to destroy the human population with," we snarled, "What we do won't be _quite_ that extreme, but we'll make sure you fall either way."

Mable inclined her head at that, not at all thrown off by the threatening words from the group in front of her. "Hm." She tapped the Flare symbol that was at the top of her skirt twice, then vanished in the flicker of a Teleport. The rest of the Flare grunts disappeared the same way, regardless of whether or not they were conscious.

"Well, that was too easy," Maria remarked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, last time someone made a battle this easy, the next one was _significantly_ harder than it should have been," Risa nodded, "Course that was back home in the Cyberworld, but it's probably a similar situation here."

Camanion skidded to a stop, "Where'd they go?"

"Keep up with the times, they all teleported out," we responded dryly.

"That's usually what happens; I'm not surprised they did." Maria sighed gloomily and rolled her eyes a little. "Let's get back to the Pokemon Center and rest up; something tells me we're going to have to tackle the cold again in order to get to Anistar, and traveling at night in the cold isn't the best of ideas."

"Especially not with a nervous Metroid in tow," we agreed before transforming back into Ada.

Khrista nodded in agreement. "We'll have to warn them we're making the trek. Normally, we'd have to ride on Mamoswine in order to get through - that pass has a _lot_ of snow piled up in it. If we fly over, though, we'll probably be fine."

"So long as nobody tries anything stupid that is," I nodded towards Camanion - who put on an innocent expression - and gestured back towards the cave's entrance.

 **Return to 3** **rd**

The group made the short trek back out of Frost Cavern and out into the open air. The sun had nearly completely set, and there was a wind picking up - something in the weather was starting to make its move.

Maria ended up creating another sphere of heat on the way back to the town and the Pokemon Center. Aiden was nowhere to be seen at the bridge, nor was his Mamoswine.

"He must be hunkering down in the Pokemon Center or somewhere nearby for the night," Maria called to the others as they crossed the river and got back into town. "There's probably going to be a lot of snow in the morning."

Ada rolled her eyes, "If nothing else it'll teach Hunter that he's not as weak as he thinks he is. Of course there's a distinct chance he'll get cocky afterwards, but I can handle that."

"It's going to take a lot for him to get past a built-in, instinctual fear of snow." Maria frowned as the group came up to the familiar, red-roofed building. "I should know; I was a Vulpix at one point and had to go into the ocean a _number_ of times." She shuddered. "I doubt I'm going to be able to look at water the same way again."

Khrista patted Maria on the shoulder. "I think the little guy's gonna be fine. He'll probably be glad to know that he'll be okay around snow...mostly...but he probably won't want to do it ever again."

"May as well start him young eh? Give him more time to get used to the idea. It worked for me and fire anyway," Ada nodded, "Either way he'll be fine."

"So long as he has a place to hide, yeah," Khrista said.

The wind whistled past them suddenly, sending hair flying in all directions and sending chills through them despite Maria's hidden circle of heat.

"Let's get inside and get some dinner before turning in," Maria said quickly. "I don't think we want to be out here any longer than we already have been."

"I can agree," Risa responded.

Camanion muttered something that didn't sound especially happy, rubbing the fur on the back of her head into place, "Yeah, let's do."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **POV: 3** **rd**

The snow didn't make make the route harder to travel, especially since none of it was coming down. Or rather, it wouldn't have except that Hunter _really_ didn't want to go anywhere near it. Seeing the snow scared the Metroid enough and the chance of touching it nearly had him petrified.

"...You've been in worse before, remember that time you stumbled into Ridley's cryogenic chamber by accident on BSL? That was much colder than this!" Ada argued.

"And if what I've been told is correct, your first meeting with Ada's boss involved him throwing a cold drink at you, it isn't much colder than that out here," Risa threw out.

Camanion decided to get a little more literal in the whole throwing-out-ideas thing by scooping up a handful of snow and lobbing it at the poor Metroid. Hunter gave an unconsciously exaggerated scream of pain and shot into the Pokemon Center to warm up. Ada shot Camanion a poisonous glare and hissed "Not… Helping…" Camanion grimaced and plunged her right hand into her pockets to reassure companions that no more snow would be flying, the left being occupied by her cane.

Ada sighed, "I'll go in there and give him a telekinetic shield to keep out the cold."

"And how exactly will this teach him to face his fear?" Risa asked sceptically.

"I'lll 'accidentally' lower the shield effectiveness over time. By the time he notices, he'll probably be colder than he's ever been."

Camanion smirked, "I like how you think."

Ada entered the Pokemon center and returned a moment later with a more confident but not outright terrified Hunter following, encased in a glowing green-white shield.

"We're just going to fly over the snow or borrow Aiden's Mamoswine if you can't get yourself up high enough," Maria explained to the others. "So we won't be touching the snow either way.

"We can fly as high as you need us to," Ada gestured towards Hunter.

"And we can travel just as fast over difficult terrain as over flat," Camanion added. Camanion and Risa activated their jet boots and spikes. Switch nodded and activated the jets in a pair of boots he'd recently obtained. He'd changed into an outfit similar to Camanion and Risa's and now wore a green jacket of his own.

Khrista huffed. "You people and your technology. That's gonna end up making you fall flat on your faces someday if you rely on it too much." Her shirt shifted to the sky blue and red swirl that it had been the night before in Frost Cavern. "Come on; let's get over those snow drifts before we get another blizzard coming down from the mountains. The route isn't long, but it's definitely a prime target for snow storms."

Maria nodded in agreement. "Most snow routes are." She motioned for the group to follow her, and they made their way to the south to the gate at that end of town.

On the other side, there was a small clearing with tamped-down snow. Around and in front of them was snow that rose up a good ten feet off the ground.

Aiden and his Mamoswine were standing near a portion of the snow that looked softer and more recent than the rest. The young man raised an arm in greeting and waved.

"I'm glad you guys got out of Frost Cavern all right last night!" Aiden said. "You're heading to Anistar next, then?"

"Yup." Maria's hoverboard detached itself from her back and unfolded, falling into a hovering position to her right. She stepped on as Aiden's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "I'm guessing you were wondering if we'd need your Mamoswine's help, right?"

Aiden nodded dumbly.

"Thanks for the offer, Aiden, but I think we'll be able to get across easily enough on our own." Khrista looked over at the others as she started to hover off the ground a bit. "You guys ready? We're going to try to get across this route as fast as possible so that we can get to Anistar to meet Olympia, but if we need to take this slow, we can."

Hunter chirped nervously, "How fast _can_ we go?"

Ada smirked, floated upward slightly, and almost seemed to teleport forward with a pulse of light, visible vapor cone, and a loud _bang_ as she broke the sound barrier, "That fast enough for you?"

Camanion jetted forward the same distance at a speed that could barely be described as subsonic and Risa and Switch followed at speeds that left them visible, but barely. Risa because she had to walk and Switch due to his lack of experience and confidence in his flight ability.

"And to answer your comment from earlier," Camanion nodded to Khrista, "I'm better with tech than TK, and Risa _is_ tech, so we'll stick with what we're good at."

Khrista and Maria blinked a couple times, wide-eyed expressions on their faces.

"I...don't think I can go _quite_ that fast," Maria said carefully.

"I-it's a pretty straightforward shot over to the gate on the other side of the route." Khrista breathed in deeply, trying to compose herself. "But since we're so close to the mountains, I wouldn't suggest breaking the sound barrier again. We could get an avalanche if we're not careful."

Aiden winced. "Yes, please don't do that. Abomasnow wouldn't like you very much if you did do that again."

Ada nodded, "Yeah, I can actually hit about Mach 3, but I was putting most of my energy into keeping the snow stable -" Hunter squealed in protest as a trickle of snow fell a handspan from him. Ada glanced up and shot her hand up, quickly stabilizing a patch of loose snow, "-Mostly successfully," She glanced around to make sure there wasn't any more snow ready to fall before exhaling a breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding.

Maria's hoverboard rose further up into the air, leaving her just above the snow that was piled up in front of them. Khrista moved upwards in the air as well. "Well, I can't get to be that fast myself, but we should still be able to zip across this route in fifteen minutes, max. Five minutes minimum, maybe." Maria looked over at the others. "And considering that Team Flare is making moves where we aren't, we don't have all that much time to dawdle, so we'd better get moving."

With that, Maria shot off over the tall drifts of snow, Khrista keeping pace alongside her.

Camanion and Ada quickly followed Maria and Khrista. Risa and Switch charged out of the gate, keeping up with the others. Hunter followed Ada closely, but rapidly accelerated once he saw the opposite gate, quickly leading the pack.

" _Oy'ika, n'iviin'yc! Garshuk meh kyrayc!"_ Ada shouted to her companion, urging him to slow down for his safety.

" _Nayc! Ori'ciryc!"_ The skittish Metroid accelerated faster, obviously complaining about the cold.

"I know you're cold," Ada said, switching to English, "But you're going too fast for the group to keep up." She reached out a hand and pulled back a complaining Hunter. "It won't be any warmer on the other side of the gate, and you won't know where to go next, so you may as well stay with us." She shot Maria and Khrista a look that clearly said 'Don't correct me.'

" _Gar serim, buir,"_ Hunter sighed and stuck with Ada.

Maria and Khrista exchanged looks, then shrugged and focused on the gate that was coming up fast on the other side of the snow-covered route.

A few minutes later, the group reached the other side of the large snow drift and dropped down onto the tamped-down snow in front of the gate.

"Here we are." Maria stepped off her hoverboard as Khrista and the others landed. "Anistar's probably going to be cold yet, but I don't think we're going to see any snow while we're in town."

"You won't be saying that if we ever head down to Snowbelle," Khrista said. "The entire town looks like this route does." She jabbed a thumb back at the wall of snow they had just passed over.

Hunter made a nervous sort of chirp, "I hope we don't go there."

"Well, that depends on what happens after we talk to the Gym Leader here," Maria replied. "Normally, after the 7th Gym in the region we go straight into taking on the evil organization that's in the area. So I think that we're going to be finally getting around to taking on Team Flare after we talk to Olympia." She looked over at Khrista, raising an eyebrow. "That sound about right?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Khrista nodded. "Come on; we should probably get to the Gym."

The group stepped through the gate and out into a quaint town with solar panels on the roofs of the buildings. And towering over everything else on a platform over a nearby large lake was a large, crystalline, purple-pink crystal that refracted the morning sunlight and gave everything an almost unnoticeable pinkish hue.

Maria moved closer to the edge of the street in order to get a better look at the crystal. "Whoa. That is impressive."

Hunter started to dart forward before remembering the last few times he'd moved in that quickly to look at something pretty and pulled up short. " _Bu'ir_ , can I fly over and look at it?"

"I don't see why not, do you?" Ada asked to Maria and Khrista. She flicked her hand and the faded remnants of Hunter's shield dispersed.

Camanion leaned forward and squinted slightly, "I can't quite… wow, that _is_ impressive."

Khrista whistled. "Wow. I didn't think that the Anistar Sundial would look like that. It looks nothing like the one in the game, that's for sure."

"That's supposed to be a _sundial?_ " Maria looked over at Khrista. "You're serious."

"Yup. It's got an in-game mechanic to it, too - after everything with Team Flare's taken care of, Professor Sycamore - the in-game one - says that at certain times of day when the crystal's glowing, you can find Mega Stones like Han's Lucarionite in certain places." Khrista paused. "You...haven't been using that thing lately, though."

"Nope. We haven't really needed to." Maria looked down at the black ring that was around her left wrist. "We might have to soon, though; I don't know what to expect from Team Flare, but it's definitely going to be a bigger obstacle than just going through Gyms."

"I think I speak for the entire family when I say that somehow, we don't doubt that," Risa agreed.

Ada glanced up at a moving speck above the sundial and added, "Hunter says it doesn't look much like a sundial from his angle. Never mind, now he sees it, it's just not like any he's seen before."

Maria nodded, then turned her gaze away from the sundial and looked up the street. "A-ha! There's the Gym!" She pointed up over the rooftop of the nearby Pokemon Center towards a domed building that stood a few streets over. "If we're going to find Olympia anywhere, it's probably going to be there."

"Considering she's the Gym Leader that Valerie mentioned, I'm not surprised," Khrista replied dryly. She started down the street towards the Gym, the rest of the group following after her. Hunter rejoined the group after a quick telepathic prod from Ada.

As the group reached the Gym's entrance, the doors were pushed open, and a woman stepped out into the morning sun: taller than the girls, she wore a dark purple, nearly black jumpsuit under a silver, glimmering cloak that caught the morning wind, revealing a night sky pattern on the inside of the cloak. Her hair was a deep purple, and was done up in such a way that it seemed to defy gravity.

"Greetings, Maria, Khrista, Composite, Camanion, and _Oy'an."_ The woman nodded to each in turn. "I have been expecting you."

Risa and Camanion exchanged a glance before Risa shrugged and turned back to the Gym Leader.

"You're a telepath!" Hunter said excitedly, "I don't think I've met a natural human telepath before! Yeah, I'm _Oy'an_ , but you can call me Hunter if that's easier to remember. Most people do. I'm a Metr-"

"I think she knows, _ad'ika_ , if she knows your name without meeting you - or presumably anyone else who knows your _Mando'a_ name," Ada stopped the rambling Metroid.

"You're Olympia, then," Maria guessed. "Did you See us coming, or…?"

The woman nodded. "Please, come inside. We have much to discuss." She stepped aside, motioning to the open doorway behind her.

Inside, the Gym looked bigger than it was probably supposed to. Possibly because the entire ceiling was covered in constellations and the floor dropped down abruptly a few steps in, except for a thin path that was woven into a maze that looked like several planets that had been connected together. At the other side was a platform that looked like a well-used battleground. Camanion found the drop-off, grimaced slightly, and quickly found the beginning of the maze without bothering to look down. Hunter flew up to investigate the ceiling, assuming that it was a local star chart.

"Whoa." Maria gained a half-smile. "Tate and Liza are probably jealous of how this place looks."

"They certainly are," Olympia replied. "But you are not here to wander my maze intent on a Gym Battle. Or, you would be, were it not for far more pressing matters." She reached under her cloak and pulled out a Badge that looked like gold and purple smoke and handed it to Maria.

Maria nodded as she hid the Badge away. "Team Flare's movements may be controlled by something else, since I doubt they would be attempting this after what happened with Cyrus. Valerie said you might be able to give us some help."

Olympia nodded. "Something that does not belong is indeed making its move in our dimension. They do not have a physical presence here, but their presence can be felt in many places." She motioned, and a sparkling mass of stardust rose from the floor, forming into a round wooden table surrounded by chairs. Olympia motioned for the group to take seats around the table. "This talk will not be long, but I doubt that you would want to be standing during it."

Hunter floated to his usual position behind Ada's shoulder and stated, "I can't sit."

Ada sighed, " _Ad'ika,_ I honestly can't tell if you're just saying that because you can, or if it didn't occur to you that we all noticed that fact and therefore didn't feel the need to mention it."

"I am aware. There are enough chairs for the others." Olympia nodded to Risa, then took one of the seats. Khrista and Maria quickly joined her.

Ada, Risa, and Camanion all sat down in the remaining seats. "So, what can you tell us?" Ada asked, not one for small talk, and sensing that given the urgency it wouldn't be especially welcome anyway.

"If you want to talk to the Legendaries Xerneas and Yveltal and give them warning of what is coming, I'm afraid you're too late." Olympia placed her hands on the table, palms up. "Team Flare found their resting places and took them when people least expected them to. Zygarde attempted to intercept, but he was weakened too much to be able to stop them. As the Legendary of balance, this does not bode well for our region, much less our world."

"Something's upset things." Maria's brow furrowed. "Otherwise Team Flare wouldn't have had this, and Zygarde wouldn't have been thrown off."

"Your red-eyed visions, yes."

Maria stiffened at that.

"Cyrus' Second Attempt... _upset_ a number of natural balances that would have caused Team Flare to rise naturally, as with the other teams that could have risen afterwards. The presence that interferes is pushing them to take the actions they would have taken were it not for the events in Sinnoh."

"Okay… I'm a little confused. I _think_ what you're saying is that these… entities, whoever or whatever they are, would have attacked this dimension whether or not Cyrus's Second Attempt occurred… but he slowed them down… unfortunately, nobody knew about these entities, so there's no way we could have prepared for them even with the extra time?" Camanion asked, puzzled.

"And by this thing Flare has, you mean the _mir'osik_ tech?" Hunter asked.

Noting the puzzled looks, Ada clarified, "He took a _Mando'a_ word for stupid that just happened to involve excrement and gave that nickname to this," She pulled the damaged mind control box from Hammerspace, "Speaking of which, we really _should_ try to get one of these intact. This one's got some data loss in key areas and it's too badly damaged for any real hardware analysis."

"It is hard to say what these red-eyed beings intend to do, or would have intended, but it is likely that they would have attempted to make their move regardless of whether or not Cyrus had attempted to take over this world a second time," Olympia replied. "Their reasons for doing this are unknown."

"...maybe not completely." Maria looked unusually pale.

Khrista frowned. "What are you-"

"That vision I had after the Power Plant - _'Lure her in; we'll take care of the rest'_ \- it sounded like an order." Maria looked over at the box in Ada's hand and swallowed thickly. "Team Flare's a cover."

Khrista's eyes narrowed. "You think they're looking for someone. One of us?"

"P-probably."

"There is something else interfering, as well." Olympia turned her focus to Ada. "Not red-eyed creatures, but figures who are in this dimension." She closed her eyes. "Humans, perhaps. Their ambition isn't caused by the same creatures that push Team Flare. Their reason for being here is not to destroy the known world, but catch up with something." Her eyes opened. "Someone."

Maria and Khrista looked between Olympia and Ada, confusion on their faces quickly changing to wide-eyed expressions.

"Lightfoot…" Ada growled out the name like it was a curse, "I should have killed that _shabla hut'uun_ when I had the chance."

" _Bu'ir!_ " Hunter exclaimed, shocked at Ada's language.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Risa asked, "But isn't 'coward' the worst insult in _Mando'a?_ Do you really hate him that much?"

Ada glanced at her sister, eyes blazing with barely suppressed rage and simply answered, "Yes."

Maria swallowed. "Primus."

"Maria is also right. The red-eyes are searching for someone as well." Olympia turned her gaze to the Reploid. "Beware of the black boxes that you have spotted already. They cloud the mind, make people see only what others want them to see. Guard yourself carefully, and watch your back. All of you."

Maria slapped a hand on the back of her neck quickly. "No way am I letting anyone I don't trust get behind me."

" _Ne hukaat'kama,"_ Hunter stated solemnly.

"I'll watch your six," Ada both translated and agreed. "And it's unlikely you need to worry about our creators, they probably do not know of your existence, nor do they care. Their ambition outside of their dimension consist entirely of retrieving their escaped subject. They are almost certainly unaware of these red-eyed creatures, and they are almost certainly beneath the notice of your - our - enemies." She unconsciously dropped into use of plural pronouns for herself.

Maria hummed nervously at that.

Khrista slammed her right fist into her left hand's open palm. "If they so much as think of getting at me, I'm going to show them why they call me a Human Legendary in-" She paused, straightening up in her seat as her shirt turned bright gold. "Olympia, you sense that?"

Olympia nodded grimly. "It seems we have company of the less-than-liked kind outside my Gym." She rose from her chair.

Maria rose from her chair. "We'll take care of them."

Ada slipped the black box into Hammerspace, stood, and reverted to Composite, "Not sure what it is, but it's angry. Let's dance."

" _Oya manda!"_ Hunter cried excitedly.

Maria looked over at Khrista, then nodded and ran for the Gym's entrance, the others fast on her tail.

The group burst out of the Gym and right into the midst of a group of five Team Flare Grunts.

Maria clenched her fists tightly. Flames sparked from her shoulders, and a _shockwave_ of red-white flames whipped out into the Flare grunts, sending them flying back. "White Flare: Fire Spark!"

The Flare grunts landed on their backs as a result of the force, sparks flying from their limbs. Maria moved over to one and grabbed his suit, hefting him up and glaring him down eye-to-eye.

"What the scrap are you doing here?" Maria scowled.

"You definitely aren't supposed to be here," Composite defocused for a moment before holding their hands out, trapping the other four on the ground.

The Flare grunt under her hands trembled. "We-we've got a message! F-from Lysandre!"

"Spit it out, then!" Maria responded.

The grunt swallowed. "H-he said to tell you, 'Team Flare will revive the ultimate weapon, eliminate everyone who isn't in our group, and return the world to a beautiful, natural state. Unproductive fools are consuming our future…If nothing changes, the world will become ugly and conflicts will raze the land from end to end. I repeat. We will use the ultimate weapon and wipe the slate clean. I'm sorry, those of you who are not members of Team Flare, but this is adieu to you all.'"

"Well Horizon," Composite growled, "First, no you won't, and second, if humans somehow manage to screw up so badly they exterminate themselves, give it another couple million years and the world will start over. Probably with the roaches."

Khrista sucked in a breath sharply.

Maria dropped the grunt to the ground, then turned and looked at Khrista. "Looks like things are staying the same story-wise; seventh Gym and everything goes into the Danger Zone. Time to get to Geo-"

"Not quite yet." Khrista held up a hand. "Lysander has a lab in Lumiose under a cafe he owns near Prism Tower. If we go there, we might be able to stop all this before he sets that thing off."

Maria blinked sharply at that. "It's near - that's close to Tails and Clemont! We've gotta get back there and warn them - fast!"

"One more reason we should have used the ship," Composite grumbled, "The teleporter can only transfer signatures it recognizes to destinations it remembers. If we'd used it earlier, we could have just teleported back to the tower," their tone became much more upbeat, "Oh well, live and learn." They held out their left and and rezed in their Ki, projecting a region map."Race you?" They released the grunts, who quickly turned into a dust cloud along with their message-carrying friend. "Actually, Hunter, go up to Keely and bring the weapons online. We doubt we'll need it, but if we need to launch some RFGs we _don't_ want to have to wait half an hour to start dropping."

"We aren't going to need them." Maria pulled out her PokeDex again and flipped on the microphone. "Hey, Atmos! We need a ride to Lumiose - stat! Team Flare is starting to make their move, and I'm going to need as much back-up as you guys can muster if we're going to rescue the Pokemon they're planning on using to power the ancient weapon that's hidden here, as well as the Legendary Pokemon Xerneas and Yveltal!"

 _::Don't you have a Pokemon that can fly with you?::_ came a rumbling growl in reply.

"I do, but there's more than just me down here who need to get to Lumiose, so we need a bigger ride. Can you get us there?"

 _::It would be my pleasure::_

As Maria stowed her PokeDex away, Khrista asked, "Atmos?"

"Rayquaza," Maria replied. "I saw that he was known for living in the atmosphere and thought it was fitting."

Risa exploded into blue energy and swirled into Camanion's computer, _""One less person for Atmos to carry.::_

"Either way," Ada tapped a control on her Ki, "Keely, I need you within striking range of these two points, give or take about ten or fifteen kilometers," She tapped the two towns Flare was known to be currently involved with, "We may need Condor to come down and, I dunno, turn a heavy blast door into rough-cut schnitzel or something."

 _::Affirmative, Commander::_ a cool female voice dots appeared on the map, one above their current location and one between the two towns, _::Destination in five minutes.::_ Hunter made a bobbing motion and teleported to the ship in a flash of light.

"All right, it's time for me to fight my old teammates? Well good for me then," Switch made a determined face and tapped his two PokeBalls.

Khrista glanced over at him. "No love lost, huh?"

"Not enough that you'd notice." Switch grimaced, "I decided to bug out when they started handing out the boxes."

Maria looked at him sharply at that, but before she could say anything, a loud, roaring bellow came from above. They looked up as a large, mostly green, snake-like Pokemon came flying down from the sky in a spiral over Anistar, slowing to a stop as the creature landed next to the Pokemon Gym.

The large snake-like Pokemon lowered his head and turned it, eyeing the group with one dark eye. _"Guildmaster, this is strange company that you keep."_

"I've picked up a few friends since I got here; anything wrong with that?" Maria raised an eyebrow.

The Pokemon rumbled. _"No. They are simply intriguing."_ He tilted his head slightly. _"Come up. The flight to Lumiose will not be long, but we do not have much time to simply stand around and wait."_

"No, we don't." Maria jumped up onto Atmos' head with a burst of air from her jets; Khrista quickly climbed up after her. "Come on, guys! We've got a bunch of goons to stop!"

"Here's hoping they're just as incompetent as the rest!" Camanion announced.

"About four feet straight ahead," Ada murmured to her sister. Camanion quickly and easily climbed onto Atmos' back, followed by Switch and Ada. Ada held out her right arm for a moment. Hunter reappeared in a flicker of energy, quickly assessed the situation, and latched onto his _Be_ _bu'ir_ offered perch. Ada locked him on with telekinesis and pulled her arm back in. Camanion pulled her cane into three segments, wrapped an elastic strap around it, and placed it in Hammerspace.

Atmos gave a low rumble when everyone had settled on his head, and he lifted himself up slowly off the street. A flicker of a shield of air appeared around the group on top of his head for a moment, but it disappeared from sight.

Then Atmos took off, shooting into the air and leaving Anistar in the dust.

Glossary of _Mando'a_ Terms  
Iviin'yc: Fast, quickly  
Iviin: speed, velocity  
Garshuk meh kyrayc: You're no use dead: Either used to an ally or friend to encourage them to not push themselves too hard, or used to a captive or bounty hunting target to encourage them to not become more trouble than they're worth  
Ori'-: big, very, great  
Ciryc: cold: no direct noun form  
Cin'cyr: snow  
Gar serim: You're right  
Nayc: No: adjective form of negative  
Ni: I, me  
Hukaat'kama!: Watch (Someone's) six! Can be used by anyone to anyone.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **POV: 3** **rd**

Atmos ended up landing in the center of Lumiose, in the central plaza right around Prism Tower - a perfect circular shape that let him land almost curled up like a snake, rather than stretched out over a runway. The group quickly slid off his head, windswept but none the worse for the wear.

"Thanks for the lift." Maria gave Atmos a thumbs-up. "Think you can get everyone together and let them know that Team Flare's on the move?"

" _It will be no problem for me,"_ Atmos rumbled in reply. _"Watch yourself, Guildmaster. There is no telling what it is that you might be facing now."_

Maria nodded, and Atmos lifted his head and shot off around Prism Tower, quickly rising into the air and out of sight.

"Maria!" Tails came running out of the tower, Clemont on his heels. "What's happened?"

"Team Flare is making their move; Khrista said they've got a base in the city that's close by here." Maria jabbed a thumb at Khrista, who nodded grimly. "You guys might be unknowing next-door neighbors."

Clemont stared blankly at that as Tails' eyes widened sharply. "You're joking."

Khrista shook her head. "I'm not. They've got a base under the cafe Lysandre frequents. Do you know where it is?"

Clemont's brow furrowed as his glasses flashed. "Cafe...Lysandre…." His eyebrows shot up. "Yeah! It's actually named for him; it's over here!" He ran over to the edge of the plaza and past a Pokemon Center; the rest of the group quickly followed after him and reached a small building built completely of dark red brickwork.

Ada's pupils flashed blue for a second, looking intently at Tails and Clemont, "Okay, I'm not seeing any unnatural EM signatures attached to them. They're probably clean," Her gaze moved to the building itself as her pupils flicked through blue, orange, gray, and returned to their usual human black, "But that cafe's a different story. There's a secret door behind the back wall…" She made a continue gesture to Camanion.

"...Which certainly doesn't appear on the floor plans filed publicly with City Hall, in violation of fire codes among other things, I think we _may_ have just hit paydirt," Camanion unplugged the earpiece from her computer and returned it to Hammerspace. Risa emerged from the computer in a swirl of blue energy, already in her armored combat form.

"That would be their lab," Khrista said with a nod. "There's a dish cabinet in there that we have to get out of the way of the entrance. The staff's Team Flare, too, so we're going to have to take them out before we can get in there."

"Easily done." Maria cracked her knuckles. "I won't be able to let my team go completely loose here, considering that Gol is a giant and would probably make the ceiling collapse if he was allowed to go wild. There's more than enough of us here to split up and take them out quickly, though, so let's get moving before they try to pull a fast one on us."

Maria stepped into the cafe ahead of the others, setting foot in a decent-sized room with a counter and a small number of tables. The entire interior was a deep, dark red, and there were only two people standing in the cafe - a man and a woman, both dressed like employees with no red to be seen on their persons.

There was an odd, glazed expression in their eyes, but they didn't look completely out of focus, which caused Maria to pause a short distance into the cafe as the others came in after her.

The man and the woman both turned their focus to the newcomers and pulled out a PokeBall each. They started to raise their arms to throw them.

"Shock Wave!" Khrista stepped forward suddenly, her shirt turning an electric yellow as a quick wave of lightning zapped off her and into the man and the woman, causing them to spazz before collapsing.

Clemont's jaw dropped. "Wow…."

"You can have time to admire my ability later; we've got other things to worry about," Khrista replied.

"The entrance is behind here, right?' Tails walked over to the innocent-looking cabinet with cups and plates, looking it over. "I don't see a hidden switch…."

"I bet it's a spoken password or something like that." Maria moved closer to the knocked-out man and nudged him with a foot, rolling him over just enough so that she could see the back of his neck. She flinched back and looked at the others. "They've got black boxes; we're going to have to be careful down there."

"Who says the door needs to remain intact?" Ada asked, She transformed into Composite with a flash. Composite aimed their left arm at the cabinet and focused. A previously invisible hatch in their forearm opened on top, folding into two halfs. A laser weapon rose from inside, aiming over Composite's shoulder. The laser spun on a turret mount, aiming down their arm. The barrel reshaped itself slightly and fired a cone of brown energy, seemingly dissolving the entrance and causing Tails to jump back. Once it was gone, the cone shut off and the barrel reconfigured itself again. Composite held out their right hand and the turret aimed at a spot just above it. A bright light flickered above their hand, forming a wireframe of some sort of grenade before filling it in. "Never underestimate the utility of a digitizing laser. Or a flashbang. Anyone else need equipment before we put this up?"

" _Bu'ir?_ How do you even fit that thing in your arm?" Hunter asked, the question having never occurred to him.

"We don't, it rezes during deployment." Composite shrugged before glancing at the others, "Oh, and Risa, see if you can get one of those boxes off without hurting the host."

"I-I think I'm going to be fine." Maria stepped away from Composite a little.

"We're not completely defenseless." Tails pulled his three PokeBalls out of his tails as Clemont pulled out four of his own. He hid the PokeBalls away again. "What's so dangerous about the black boxes?"

"They're mind control devices." Maria swallowed. "You're going to have to watch your backs in there - it could be more dangerous than watching out for a Pokemon that knows Hypnosis."

"Suit yourself," The digitizing laser spun to point over Composite's shoulder and sank back into its hatch, which closed and became seamless again. Risa tossed a box to Composite, who caught it and put it and the flashbang into Hammerspace with a single smooth motion, "We've been analyzing these black boxes, but the only other specimen we have is badly banged up, so we couldn't do any hardware analysis. Speaking of which, once we're done with them, you can take first shot at destroying them Maria."

"Y-yeah, sure." Maria nodded.

"We should concentrate on taking care of Team Flare first before they can set off that weapon," Khrista pointed out with a dark frown. "Hopefully we'll be able to stop them here."

"Then let's go before they make a move ahead of us." Tails motioned for the group to follow him, then disappeared into the dark entrance that had been behind the dish cabinet. The others quickly followed, going down a dark stairwell until they entered a not a dim, red and black chamber. Walls that came up to Maria's neck separated them from other parts of the room, with small openings that had odd, glowing blue panels with arrows on them breaking the walls into chunks. At the other end of the area they'd stepped into was a set of red, metal doors - an elevator.

And standing in front of them was a man in a dark suit with red accents, and bright red hair that exploded off his head like a lion's mane. The man's appearance flickered.

"A hologram," Maria muttered.

"On it," Camanion murmured in response, pointing her computer at the hologram and tapping away.

"Lysandre!" Clemont exclaimed.

"Welcome," the hologram of Lysandre said. "The world will soon reach the point of no return. Saving the lives of all is impossible. Only the chosen ones will obtain a ticket to tomorrow. Do you want to have a ticket, or do you want to stop me? I tried to save people – and the world – with the profit from this lab. But my efforts had no effect…The world was too vast…and too full of fools that I couldn't save through my hard work alone." Lysandre shook his head. "That's why I decided the only way to save the world was to take it all for myself. I don't expect that I will ever make you understand how I think and feel…Try to stop the ultimate weapon if you must, but to do so, you will have to explore our lab and have Pokémon battles with all you meet." He looked back at the elevator. "Oh, and as for the Elevator Key, one of the Team Flare Scientists you've met on your journey has it." Lysandre looked back at the group. "Saving everything…The world is suffering because of this absurd dream…."

The hologram flickered and died.

"That was almost word-for-word what he says in-game." Khrista frowned. "Except he's supposed to fight you here in the middle of that."

"The hologram thing means that something's changed." Maria looked around, noticed the glowing blue panels with the arrows, and groaned. "Sliding Tiles, great. Those things are _annoying."_

"As annoying as Warp Panels?" Khrista pointed at a glowing yellow, circular panel that was under where Lysandre's hologram had been a moment ago.

" _Even worse!_ With those things you can't see where you're going!" Maria waved a hand wildly. "At least I can fly over these walls and avoid the Sliders, but Warp Panels are something else."

"They can't be hacked, either, so we're going to have to try all the panels we can find in order to find all the information we can," Clemont said worriedly. "He mentioned scientists?"

"Yeah; he probably means those girls with the visors we've been running into, like the one at the power plant." Maria's brow furrowed. "I think there's...four of them, at least."

"Give me about ten seconds, I _think_ I've found a map," Camanion clicked a few controls, murmured something, and projected a hologram from her computer, "Yup, no need to hunt-and-peck."

The map of the lab showed a large chamber split up into smaller rooms by the short walls, with the main entrance at the bottom, two rooms on the right side, one room on the left, and two more rooms along the top.

"This doesn't tell us where the scientists are, but it does give us a good place to start," Maria noted. "They're probably hiding in one of the rooms that branch off this one - shouldn't be too hard to get to them, if we move fast and fly rather ran run. I'd rather not slide across a chamber because I stepped on one of those arrow tiles." Her nose crinkled up in annoyance at the thought.

"If I had to guess, I'd say the keys would be farthest from the entrance, but our friend here," Camanion gestured towards the absent hologram, "might be smart enough to not do that. If he was _really_ smart, he wouldn't have left the maps on a network-connected machine, but he probably just took the labels off and thought he was secure. I see this all the time and it never fails to be the weak link."

"Lysandre's networks are usually more secure than this," Clemont said worriedly. "Something else must be going on."

"Setting a trap," Maria muttered. "He's making things too easy."

"This room's a recharge room, I think." Khrista pointed at the room that was on the left. "We can leave that one be, unless it might be a good idea to double-check everything just in case."

"It might be," Tails agreed. "I'll go check that room out. You guys take on the other ones."

"Well, since _I_ can't fly like the rest of you seem to be talking about, I'll have to wander around down here." Clemont motioned to the glowing blue tile. "Maybe I'll run into other Flare Grunts and get information from them on what's going on."

"Watch out for ones who have black boxes on the backs of their necks." Maria motioned to her own neck. "It looks like hitting them with an electric charge does something about making them go haywire, so since you're the Electric Gym Leader you might be able to do something about it."

Clemont gave Maria a thumbs-up, then ran for the glowing blue tile that pointed out of the room and shot off with a yelp of surprise.

Maria jumped up as her hoverboard detached from her back, landing on it as Khrista's shirt shifted to electric yellow and sky blue. "I'll go start with the room that's on the far top left."

Khrista went into a hover. "I'm going to hit the middle one up there then. I may only have Evie with me, but I don't think they'll be expecting me to show off." She grinned widely.

"It looks like there's an open space here that could be interesting." Tails tapped at the upper left corner of the map, which was an open space that was part of the main floor plan, but blocked off. "It's probably by itself for a reason; I'll go check it out."

"...I'm not sensing anything alive in that top right room," Hunter mused, "But there's something in the middle right."

"That's what our thermal says," Composite added, visor glowing orange, "But there's a _lot_ of heat-generating equipment in the top right. You wanna go check it out sis?"

"C'mon Risa, I'll call you back when I get there," Camanion floated up and jetted towards the indicated room. Switch took another second to react, but he quickly followed.

"You wanna take on whoever that is?" Composite asked Hunter.

" _Oya manda!_ Let's hunt! _"_ The Metroid responded excitedly and took off, followed closely by his parent.

 **POV: Composite**

"Hello, Mobian," Mable, the blue-haired scientist from the frost cave said as we landed in the middle right, pulling a PokeBall, "Did you bring your Pokemon?"

"Hello, _shabuir,"_ Hunter responded, attempting to knock the ball out of her hand before she could activate it. The first was a success. The second, not so much. "We don't need Pokemon to bring you down."

"Houndoom, Go!" A dog with horns and a pointed tail emerged from the Pokeball.

"It's Dark/Fire, Hunter, take point!" We thought we heard a cry of anger from Camanion, but it was just a generally angry-at-the-world tone rather than yelling at a specific person, so we ignored it. Probably an especially nasty network setup.

"Do I get to slow down time too?" Hunter asked, in a jocular tone.

"Shut up and take it down," we rebuked with a laugh.

"Flamethrower!" Mable ordered her Houndoom into the fight.

"Tackle!" We ordered Hunter.

The Houndoom inhaled and shot a burst of flame at Hunter. The Metroid simply took the attack head on, spread his mandibles in a smirk, and shot forward, slamming into the dog. Neither collapsed, but the Houndoom was staggered from the force of the impact.

"So you're immune to fire? Okay then, Sludge Bomb!"

"Keep going, it's not like you have anything else."

The hound coughed up a ball of slime that both of us easily dodged. Hunter made a sort of head-shaking motion and slammed into the Houndoom again, "When will you learn that You. Can't. Hurt. Me."

"Snarl!"

The Houndoom growled at Hunter "What are you? I've never seen a Pokemon as ugly as you!"

"You're not too cute yourself, pal." Hunter turned to us, "Can I _please_ eat him?"

"No, _ad'ika,_ you can't. Just tackle him again."

"Okay…" Hunter slammed into the Houndoom a third time. The poor thing was decidedly weak at the knees now, but still standing.

"Why does nothing work on you?" Both the Pokemon and Trainer demanded in perfect unison.

"Because I'm not a Pokemon, _di'kute_ ," Hunter slammed into the Houndoom one more time, causing the Dark/Fire type to collapse. "Now can I eat it?"

"No!" We repeated.

"How would you eat it, you don't have a mouth!" Mable asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"I'm a Metroid, we eat life energy… 'Cept me, I can eat electricity too. And don't bother with electricity on _Bu'ir_ either, they're immune."

"Well then…" She recalled the fainted Houndoom, "How about ice? Weavile!" A black, humanoid-feline creature with a sort of red crown and clawed hands exploded from the ball she threw.

Hunter gulped, "Mom? Tag in?"

"Step aside and don't call us that,"we took a ready position in front of the Pokemon.

"I don't fight Trainers," the creature said, "Let the other one back, I can smell his fear."

"Well, it's a good thing we're not a Trainer then. Say, can you regenerate limbs?"

"No, why?"

"Lucky for you, that just greatly limited our options," we drew our blades and dulled them, "Lucky for us, katana can do more than cut."

"Enough talk, and sometime you're going to tell me how you talk to Pokemon, Night Slash!" Mable got impatient and ordered a start to the fight.

"Crossroad Killing!" The Pokemon snarled, lunging forward, claws shrouded in dark energy _._

"Unfortunately, we get that reference," we stepped forward, swinging our blade. The resultant clash sent sparks flying and neither were noticeably damaged.

"Low Sweep!"

Weavile shot forward, attempting to sweep our legs out from under us. We fluidly stepped back, avoided the attack, and stepped back in, knocking the off-balance Pokemon to the ground. "You need to learn better tactics. Now I'm going to chop at your legs and head, Stop me."

The Pokemon hopped up and snarled, "Don't lecture me Mobi - augh!" He took a blow to the head and had his legs swept from under him at the same time.

"You know, this is _way_ too much fun." We said happily to _Oy'an_.

"Quick Attack!" Mable was obviously feeling left out.

"Oh, what are we ever going to do?" We asked in a tone of mock distress. Our head circuits shined brightly while our arms dimmed as we transferred more energy to cognition processes. We used our newly enhanced reflexes from the power reallocation to dive out of the way of the charging Weavile and counterattacked, sending it sprawling.

"How could you…? I was going too fast to see?"

"Not when you're seeing in slow motion you aren't. Now, you got any more attacks? We're just starting to enjoy ourselves." We grinned and pretended to wipe blood off of our swords.

"You're too cocky, Ice Shard!" The Pokemon formed a spear of ice from thin air and threw it.

We waved our hand dismissively and sent the spear flying into the wall, "Psychic!"

"You fool! I'm a Dark Type, Psychic Type attacks don't - Waugh!"

"We're sorry, did we accidentally give you the impression we were using an attack you're immune to? We meant Psychic Throw!"" The Weavile slammed into the wall, collapsing in a heap.

"I'm okay," He raised a hand and waved it feebly before letting it fall, "...No I'm not." He fainted.

"I seem to have lost. Well, I have no choice. Here's the elevator pass." Mable passed a key card to us and returned her Weavile. "Now… The power of the Legendaries… To give and consume life -"

"I could fit that bill," Hunter piped up, "I can heal as well as harm. Looks pretty much the same for the first few seconds too, because that's how long it takes my target to feel it. If I'm eating that's about when the screaming starts."

"... Right, Well, with that much power… What would happen if we were to power the Ultimate Weapon with that?"

"You… You _idiot!_ You're using something that powerful without even knowing what it'll do?! How stupid _are_ you!" We cried in shock.

"'Mad Science' means never stopping to ask 'What's the worst that could happen?" Hunter quoted.

 _Help!_ A voice rang out in our head. We recognized it immediately as telepathy.

"Did you hear that?" Hunter asked, "She sounded scared."

 _Please? Can you hear me? I can see you._ The voice continued.

 _Where are you? Who are you?_ We asked back, probing for the source with our weak psionic sense.

 _I'm right behind you, I don't know how you haven't spotted me! As for my name… I don't really have one. You can call me Espeon._

The two of us turned around and saw a lavender Pokemon that resembled a dog-sized cat with a gem in her forehead and a split tail. She was locked in a crate that was a bit too small for it.

"Let's get you out of there, shall we?" We asked. They opened the crate, allowing Espeon to step out and stretch painfully. "Are you okay? Did Team Flare hurt you?"

 _You!_ The Espeon turned to Mable, _You inhuman… … … monster! How could you possibly want to kill everyone?_

"The world is dying, humans and Pokemon are destroying it!"

"We'd tell you about how well that turned out for Horizon, but we already told you about that in the cave yesterday," we looked at the scientist, "Oh, and if you have any black boxes left, we'd like you to hand them over."

"I don't have any," Mable said defensively.

Our visor flashed blue, "We think you're lying. And we don't like liars, do we son?" We drew one of their blades, which we'd sheathed after the last Pokemon had gone down. It visibly sharpened into its normal form.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" She turned her pockets out, dumping two of the black boxes onto the ground. We telekinetically swept both up and placed them in Hammerspace.

"So it's okay for you to call me 'son' but not for me to call you 'mom,'" Hunter complained.

"We're the parent."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Want to go check on sis? I'm sure she's doing fine, but she's always got something she wants to share, so let's go. Espeon, can you climb the wall?"

"Easily," The Pokemon leapt up, effortlessly scrambling over the wall.

 **POV: 3** **rd**

"Oh, by Simon, Sajuuk, and Starclan!" Camanion shouted, enraged, "This place doesn't even have aircon! How have these servers not overheated?" The room was full of admittedly well-racked servers with well-done cabling and a proper map of the room next to the door.

Risa teleported in with a flash of blue energy, "Your sister works with Simon."

"Needed a third S word." Camanion plugged in her earpiece, pointed her computer at the map, and started to tap a few controls."Okay, we need to access the main file server most likely. If that fails, we'll try the backup servers. People never think to encrypt those things, even though they store the same mission-critical data as the primary." She turned to Switch, who had landed just after her, "Okay PFY, how do we do that?"

"Uh…" Switch obviously hadn't expected to be put on the spot, "First we find out if it's a virtual or physical server."

"Very good! It's a virtual on ESXi." Camanion listened to a readout on her computer, "Then what do we do?"

"Then we… find the host machine and-" Switch started.

"No, ESXi hosts don't have access to the guests," Camanion shook her head.

"Oh, sorry, was thinking in Hyper-V… So we need to find the console." Switch thought for a moment and looked at the map, "Which is right over here. There's two." He tapped the shift key on one of the consoles and sat down. "It's logged in as admin, but it's locked."

"And…" Risa asked, "Where are passwords usually stored?"

"Uhh…" Switch looked at the monitor itself, lifted the keyboard and looked on the desk, "...Under the keyboard."

"...And we're in. Okay, how do we find the info we want?" Camanion prompted.

"Uh… what info _are_ we looking for?" Switch asked dryly.

"You make a good point… Now, what's the fastest port on these machines?"

"Em… USB 3?" Switch asked.

"Sorry, wasn't asking you… Okay, Looks like these bad boys have Thunderbolt. Let's do this," She pulled a cable out of hammerspace and plugged it into a small almost square port on the computer and then into her own machine.

"Now while that's going, let's see if we can find anything interesting," Camanion clattered on the keyboard, searching the file server for anything with 'Ultimate Weapon' in the document, "Say what you like about Team Flare, they do have good taste in keyboards. This board is almost as good as mine."

"And the difference is…?" Switch asked.

"These ones don't have powered USB hubs and headphone jacks."

"Well, look what we have here," Risa murmured, bringing up the files she'd found on Camanion and Switch's computers.

"Well, I think you've just found us a motherlode," Camanion said a solid ten seconds of amazed silence later.

"The Ultimate Weapon was created during a war in Kalos. One of the kings, named AZ had a Pokemon that was killed in battle by his brother… The original purpose was to resurrect the killed Pokemon… But it was modified by AZ because he couldn't make himself stop there… Once he realized he couldn't destroy his creation he took the activation key and fled, apparently cursed with immortality sometime during the process. His brother sealed the weapon itself, but he didn't have the key to bring it online…" Switch read out loud.

"Didn't Composite say something about how they saw a giant after the power plant incident that Clemont identified as AZ?"

"I think so," Camanion nodded.

Switch completely ignored the two and continued reading "AZ's brother told his son about the weapon before he died, all the way down the line to… Lysandre! Well, that explains a few things, but it certainly opens some new questions."

Camanion's ears twitched as she heard someone approaching. "Team Flare technical support, how may I maim you today?" She asked in the same tone she'd use to answer the phone.

"Hey sis, you got anything good?" Composite asked with a snort of laughter.

"Believe it or not, yes. Me and my team of wetwares actually had time to get some productive work done while you were out doing whatever you were doing."

"Your sister has a strange sense of humor," Espeon commented.

Camanion spun her chair around, "Oh, and who might you be?"

"I am currently known as Espeon, since I have no true name and that is the name of my species," the lavender cat responded.

Camanion glanced at her computer for a translation and grinned, "Well, hello Espeon, where did my sister find you at?"

"She was crated - in a crate much too small - in the room just over that wall," Composite pointed at the wall, "After defeating Mable, we found her near the door. We probably would have spotted her right away if we'd gone the regular route. Speaking of Flare scientists, we got the Elevator Key."

"Good. Let's go meet up with the others," Camanion gestured toward her screen, "We've got a _lot_ of important data."

"Actually," Switch said, amused, "I think you're forgetting something…"

"What?" Risa asked.

"How about a little bit of 'asset denial?'" Switch asked innocently.

"Yeah, forgot about that. But this is just erasing data. Asset Denial involves explosives," Risa corrected. She gestured at the screen, "Okay, multicasting an rm -rf on root… now! That should wipe them clean… and just to be sure… give it a quick disk zeroing over the lot of them. _Now_ we're ready to go check on the others."

"Good," Espeon purred, "That should slow them down somewhat," She turned and jumped onto the wall and set off towards the main entrance, the rest of the group quickly following once Camanion unplugged her machine from the computer..

As Camanion, Composite, Switch, Risa, Hunter, and Espeon came over the walls, two people Composite recognized as the Doctor's assistants bolted up the stairs. Since none of the others pursued, none of them did either.

"Hey, guys, did you get the - whoa!" Tails' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Where'd you get the Espeon?"

"Team Flare had me locked in a cage. I was planning to make my escape when they opened it to feed me or remove me, but when Composite and Hunter dispatched Mable's Pokemon - and quite elegantly too, I might add - I made my presence known," Espeon twitched her tail-tips in satisfaction, "And they haven't _got_ me, I haven't decided whether or not to follow them yet."

"As for Mable, we've got good news and bad news. The good news is we got two Boxes and an Elevator Pass. The bad news… Mable's not being controlled. We don't know if she actually believes in Team Flare's cause or if they've got something on her, but if she is being controlled, it's through conventional means."

Camanion projected a sort of quick-and-dirty executive summary of the information they'd retrieved from the Flare computers, "I've got plenty of info about the Weapon, but to summarize; AZ built device to resurrect a dead Pokemon during war. AZ modified machine into weapon. AZ ended war. AZ stole key so that it couldn't be used again. AZ's brother sealed weapon away and told his son. Our mutual friend," She gestured to where the hologram had been previously, "Is a descendant of the brother. Any questions?"

"Everyone knows that Lysandre is royalty," Clemont commented. "At least, people in Kalos do. AZ, though…."

"That man we saw coming back from the power plant," Khrista replied. " _He's_ AZ - the one who set the weapon off."

"But that's impossible!" Maria countered. "Not unless he got affected by some kind of...some kind of time distortion or _something_ to keep him alive."

"It could be Xerneas," Tails pointed out. When the others looked at him, he added, "He's a Legendary Pokemon that represents _life._ Maybe he made it so that AZ would live forever as a result of what he did?"

The others looked at each other.

"It could be possible," Maria admitted. She frowned. "But what about the weapon? Lysandre sounds like he's got everything he needs, so then this key…."

"If this is anything like the games, he's got AZ on the floor below this one." Khrista pointed down at the tiles at their feet. "We can take the elevator down and get him out of here."

"Yes, but unless Lysandre _somehow_ didn't get the key off - or out - of AZ, then getting to the elevator and rescuing him will only solve part of the problem." Espeon made an agitated flick of her tail, "We'll still have to get to the weapon and disable it. Somehow I doubt that he's here, otherwise he wouldn't have used the hologram Camanion mentioned while we were coming back from the server room."

"Regardless, if AZ is here, rescuing him might prove to be to our advantage." Maria moved closer to the elevator. "So let's head down a floor and see about getting him out of here."

"We're going to go a floor lower after that," Khrista added. "There's another guy in the base we haven't run into yet - Xerosic. If this is anything like the game, Lysandre probably left him here. Or a hologram of him. He's standing in the room that activates the ultimate weapon _right now,_ and I bet he's waiting for us to get down there before turning it on."

"You're an Avatar," Espeon said. It wasn't a question.

Khrista nodded. "Yeah. And Maria's the one who clobbered Cyrus the first time around."

"Well, that's certainly encouraging," Espeon _almost_ smiled.

Maria scowled as she reached the elevator. "And it sounds like more problems are coming up ahead of us that could be as bad or worse than Cyrus." She folded her arms across her chest. "So let's get moving and see about getting AZ out of here before we meet this Xerosic guy."

"In that case, let's move." Composite pulled out the Elevator Pass and slipped it into the elevator slot. The group crowded on and went down one level.

The next level down led into a hallway made of gray stone. It went forward a short distance, then turned sharply to the right.

Khrista moved in front of the group, motioning for them to follow her quietly as her shirt shifted to bright gold and black. Maria and Evie moved after her, followed by the rest of the group, and as they turned the corner, they came across a cell. Instead of bars, however, zapping lines of dark energy zipped between open points at the top and bottom of the entrance. There was a key pad to the right of the cell door.

And standing inside that cell was the giant they'd seen after the events at the power plant.

"AZ!" Khrista moved in front of the cell, hoping to get the giant man's attention.

The man looked up at Khrista's voice as the others moved closer. Maria moved to stand to Khrista's left, her hologram flickering out and leaving her armor exposed.

"You...what are you doing here?" the former king of Kalos asked. His voice was surprisingly quiet for someone his size. "Who are you?"

"I'm Khrista Langstrom, and this is my friend Maria Carlsdale." Khrista nodded over to Maria, who gave a nod in greeting. "The others with us are Camanion, Composite, Hunter, Risa, Switch, and Espeon." She motioned as the others came into view themselves. "We're here to get you out of here and stop Team Flare."

"Apparently they're planning to use one of your former possessions," Composite added, "Now _normally_ we - I - personally would just drop some titanium rods from orbit and bomb it back to the stone age, but apparently it would probably blow up and wipe out half the region. And even if that didn't happen, there are a _lot_ of innocent civilian Pokemon within the blast range."

"This is some serious security," Camanion interjected. "By the time I've sliced it they'll have gotten bored with waiting for us and flipped the Big Red Switch."

AZ shook his head. "The ultimate weapon is far more powerful than your mechanical creations. It was crafted from a material I made sure to destroy after…." He trailed off, shook his head again.

"We can think of a few that are more powerful, but in this dimension you're right, though a powerful but weakly defended weapon can be destroyed by something smaller. We've seen it happen before. Now let's see about getting you out of there. _Oy'an_ , we're going to need some overwatch. Sync up." Composite held a finger up and Hunter tapped it with one of his outer mandibles. There was a slight energy discharge and the Metroid slumped slightly, only semi-conscious of the physical world. Composite turned to Risa, "You coming sis?" The two placed their hands on the keypad, and Composite explained, "This is why Fcon chose our design." The two exploded into swirls of red and blue energy cubes and were absorbed into the panel.

 **POV: Risa**

I reformed inside the computer, Composite behind me back-to-back.

 _::I'm locked in,_ :: Hunter's voice said both in my head and from a floating spheroid above us.

"Weapons are hot," Composite said. They drew their Identity Disk from Hammerspace and placed it on their back, where it seemed to suspend itself. They drew their blades, sharpening them and Igniting them with a flash of energy. I held out my hands, left in front cupped upward and right behind cupped toward my shoulder. My BlasTech DC-17m Interchangeable Weapons System rezed in my hands. I clipped on a pair of ironsights and slammed a clip into a receiver on the left side

"Weapons are hot," I confirmed. I sent a command to my internal terminal and my emotional suppressors came online. Not a module Camanion gave me, I made it myself. I don't know if it's something wets have that I don't or if it's unique to me, but when I'm in combat I don't need the distraction. I went from slightly jittery to focused with laser keenness. Camanion makes plenty of machine jokes, and I suppose I technically am a machine – aren't we all? – but when I go into combat, I'm a machine in more than the usual sense.

 _::Incoming!::_ Hunter's voice squealed. Composite sheathed their left blade and drew their Disk with the free hand. I raised my weapon to my shoulder and sighted up. A pair of spindly first-response drones stalked around the corner in response to the intruders. Composite whirled around and sidestepped, throwing their Disk at one of the drones. I fired two bolts from my rifle, melting its head cleanly. Both of the two glowed orange and dissolved into wireframes before disappearing.

We shot down the corridor in front of us, traveling down the circuit board to the access control, Hunter guiding us along. A large program guarded a lower area with its back to us. I grinned, signaled a halt and swapped the ironsights for a proper scope, slapped an extended barrel onto my blaster, and swapped the clip for a larger clip with different ammunition.

"Hello scumbag," I sighted up and placed my crosshair firmly on the back of my target's head before firing a long beam with a solid core, "You're dead." The target whirled around just in time to take another shot to the eye and derezed.

Composite grinned and clenched their own right fist, summoning an HECU SPAS-12 shotgun. They pulled a similar clip to my own. Their own shotgun reshaped itself so that it matched mine except for the shotgun grip.

The slightest flicker of envy snuck past my suppressor, "I wish my kit could copy like yours, Mine only has five modes, yours can do anything up to… what exactly?"

Composite shrugged, "Pretty sure it's anything up to the size of a shoulder-launched rocket. We haven't really stress-tested it yet. Not worth the trouble of finding some black market SAMs."

I leapt down, followed shortly by my sister. "Do you think maybe this was too easy?"

"How so?"

"Except for the big one, we've only encountered a handful of first-responders, not even proper grunts." I pressed a button near where the big program had been standing and opened a hidden chamber. This was obviously the primary authorization control center, with large consoles and streams of what I recognized as cryptographic code lining the walls.

"Let's dance," Composite murmured. Apparently this was where most of the defenses were, "Sister, cover us," They raced in, blades flashing to deflect incoming fire.

I deftly removed the barrel, scope, and clip from my weapon, replaced it with a large barrel module, and slapped a grenade into it, eliminating a group of grunts with a single shot. Composite got to work slicing a panel as I kept the enemy's heads down.

Several nanoseconds later, almost a full millisecond in fact, the panel flashed green and Composite announced, "Okay, we're clear, let's get out of here. Make a hole!" They made a sweeping motion with their hand, sending grunts tumbling in all directions. We raced through the open tunnel out into the main corridors. I aimed my blaster behind me and gave the grunts a goodbye present In the form of a sixty-round hosing.

I clicked off my suppressor and was instantly flooded with a sense of exhilaration and thrill. It's really quite enjoyable. Maybe the wets have it right after all. I'll have to look into that.

 **POV: 3** **rd**

About three seconds after the pair entered the computer, the electric bars dissipated with a loud _zap_ and the two AIs were violently ejected from the panel, both breathing hard.

"Whew," Risa gasped, "That was… fun."

"Fun," Composite grumbled, "Isn't the word." They turned to AZ, "So, you're free. What will you do now?"

"Whew! Always get a kick out of doing that!" Hunter perked up and flew over to check on the pair. "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Composite said, "Just a little exhausted, that'll sort itself out in a couple minutes."

AZ hesitated, then stepped out of his cell. "I need to take back what was taken from me. I am going to Geosenge." He started to move past them, then paused and looked at the group. "Keep your wits about you. The descendant of my brother...he is not quite right." Then he moved around the corner and out of sight.

"We're going to have to give the elevator a couple seconds if we're going to head down to Xerosic," Khrista commented. She frowned. "I'm surprised, though - he didn't give us that story he gave us in the game…."

"Story?" Maria cocked her head to one side.

"Yeah - the one about how he lost his Floette in the war and made the machine to bring it back to life, only to have it leave him when he used the machine as a weapon. I think he ended up living for so long because he was close to the thing when it went off - like _it_ gave him eternal life or something."

"I can understand that," Camanion commented, "All of it is understandable as it happens."

"That may be, but what we're doing is changing some things," Khrista pointed out. "If I didn't know about what _usually_ happens, I'm sure we'd be missing pieces of the story."

Maria nodded a little, frowning. "Yeah…."

"We should be able to get to the next floor now." Tails started towards the elevator. "We have to stop the weapon before it gets activated; hopefully, we will be able to take care of that here so that we can rescue the Pokemon in Geosenge without having to be on a timer."

Maria shook her head a little and gained a determined expression. "Right. Let's take care of this Xerosic guy."

"I doubt it'll be that much of a problem, if he goes to press the button, we _do_ have at least four people on our side capable of using telekinesis to stop him," Camanion nodded to Composite, Khrista, and Evie.

"Five," Espeon added.

"Six," Hunter corrected.

"Since when?" Composite asked.

"I'm not good, but I can knock someone's hand off course, and a couple hours ago. Did I forget to mention that?" Hunter asked innocently.

The group moved back to the elevator and crowded inside again before heading down to the third floor. The hallway that the elevator opened out to once again turned sharply to the right, as it had on the second floor.

Khrista and Evie moved to the turn in the hallway and stopped.

Evie's ears unfolded and went straight up like a rabbit's. She backed away from the corner and hissed, _"There's someone there. He doesn't feel right."_

"Must be that Xerosic guy." Maria moved to join them. "So he's in a room right around the corner here?"

Khrista nodded. "We shouldn't have to worry about him doing anything against us here; he might try to test you in a battle, though." She looked back at the others. "It might be a good idea to keep your weapons ready but hidden, just in case. I don't know what is going to be changed from the game, but it's a good idea to be prepared, just in case."

Composite looked around, visor glowing blue, "Well, we're not going to be able to sneak up on him, there's a camera right outside the door. Either that or a motion detector, either way it'll spot us."

"Always paranoid." Maria rolled her eyes and sighed irritably, then stepped around the corner and into the open doorway on the wall to the right. The others followed.

The room they stepped into was mostly dark, except for the bright orange lights that lit up a central path that led past computer servers and to an open area at the back of the room. The back wall had a monitor in the middle - it wasn't active at the moment - and two panels on either side of it, each with a button. To the left was a blue button; to the right was a red one.

And standing in front of the monitor and the buttons was a man in a red jacket and pants with skin so pale he almost seemed to be glowing white.

"So the PokeBalls we received and the Pokémon we've gathered are where they need to be." The man tapped a few things on a tablet and grinned. "Add it all up, and it means all preparations are complete!"

"Like we're going to let you make use of them!" Maria came to a stop a short distance from him, hands on her hips. Khrista stopped to Maria's left and folded her arms across her chest as Evie stood to her Trainer's left and mimicked Maria.

The man looked up, eyes in goggles with red glass focusing on the group. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I wasn't expecting you here so soon! I would have thought that you would have had a harder time trying to find the Elevator Key!"

"Puzzles like that are old hat," Maria replied.

"Had _way_ too much fun doing it," Composite added.

"Shut your operation down, Xerosic," Khrista said. "We're not letting you activate the weapon."

"We will do whatever it takes to stop you," Espeon snarled.

" _...Yeah, we'll go with that,"_ Hunter telepathically murmured to the cat.

The man - Xerosic - let out a laugh. " _I'm_ not about to shut it down - it's not even activated yet, after all! But you can try!" He motioned to the buttons that were on either side of the monitor. "Choose! One button will activate the weapon! One button will shut down all our operations and prevent us from making use of it!"

Composite held out their hand slightly and seemed to commune with the machine, "From what we can tell… both controls are armed. Maybe they select a firing mode?"

"It's blue for Xerneas and red for Yveltal, isn't it?" Maria's eyes narrowed as she looked at Xerosic with disapproval. "I'm not stupid; I know the main colors of the two Legendaries that live in this region. So I choose _neither."_

Xerosic burst out laughing. "Correct! Well done! However, unlike Lysandre, who would have said that he would have disbanded us as soon as you had said such a thing, I cannot allow your decision to stand - which is why _I_ will activate it!" He held up a remote control just as his thumb pressed down on a button with the Flare logo.

 _Click._

"No!" Maria lunged towards Xerosic, intending to tackle him to the ground, but she ended up going through him with a crackle of static.

"Should have expected that," Camanion said, "Both the hologram and the remote."

The screen between the two buttons lit up, crackling with static for a moment before clearing up, revealing a circle of wooden cabins, surrounded by stones of various sizes.

"Geosenge," Khrista said grimly. "It's starting."

Three prongs of stone in the center of the town jolted, then sank into the ground. There was a moment of eerie stillness, then an explosion of dirt and stone as a large, iridescent object erupted from the center of town. It spun slowly, then faster as it released bursts of red and blue light before unfurling like a giant flower with two layers of three petals.

The flower hovered there, then dropped to the ground, smoke rising from a red-black pole in the center of the petals.

"Oh no," Maria murmured worriedly. "This is...oh no."

"We've got time," Khrista said. "They need time to charge that thing up - we can get to Geosenge and still stop them before they fire it and destroy everything. But we need to move _now."_

"Keely!" Composite's Ki came online with a flicker of a hologram, "Get to these coordinates immediately, and get Condor prepped for launch, we may need air support."

 _::Affirmative Commander::_ came the AI's calm reply.

"Much as I'd love to see a re-entry burn," Camanion nodded, "We'll have plenty of time to watch that later."

"There's nothing left for us here, let's go." Hunter said solemnly.

"Hunter, could you _not?_ " Risa asked.

"No; he's right." Maria turned to look at the others, her PokeDex already in hand. "Atmos, meet us in the Central Plaza. We're flying for Geosenge as soon as we meet up with you."

 _::Understood, Guildmaster. The Guild is on high alert and sending a team in; they'll meet us there::_

"Good; at this point, we're going to need all the help we can get." Maria slipped the Dex into her subspace and started moving out of the room. "Come on; we've got a time limit that the avatars didn't have, and I'm not about to let any more time slip past us."

Risa patiently waited for Maria to finish talking before snorting slightly and saying, "You wouldn't be agreeing with him if you got that reference," before following the rest of the group out.

"Actually," Hunter murmured, "That reference is all _too_ appropriate."

 **Sorry for the delay, the real world went nuts yesterday and today.**

 **And don't worry, Composite won't be getting a new companion every story. FWB suggested it and I decided that, among other things, having a full telepath along for the ride could be helpful. Also, Espeon's personality helps with rounding out my eccentric group.**


	10. Chapter 10: Final Rush

**Chapter 10: Final Rush**

 **POV: 3** **rd**

Atmos rumbled uneasily as he circled over Geosenge and the large, crystalline flower that had bloomed in the center of it. The route to the south - with all its gravestones and ruins - had a large crowd of figures in it. Red suits could barely be made out as they rushed back and forth between the stones, making sure that other figures of various sizes were attached to them and unable to run off. _"I do not like the looks of this place. It reeks of death."_

"It'll reek of more of it if we don't do something fast," Maria said worriedly. "Land by the gate at the southern end of town; I want to see if that team you mentioned earlier is waiting for us over there."

Atmos dipped down a little, then circled around the flower, giving it as wide a berth as he dared before landing next to one of the wooden cabins, which had been overturned when the weapon had burst out of the ground. The group slipped off, and Atmos quickly took off.

"I don't blame him for leaving so fast." Tails' tails shuddered. "There's something about this place…."

"Yeah." Maria nodded a little. "We have to hurry if we're going to be able to take this all out before they fire that thing."

"I couldn't agree more!" A yellow, rodent-like Pokemon came out from the underbrush near the edge of the town, red bandanna tied around his neck with a badge pinned to it - a gold PokeBall with a red gem for a button and wings sprouting from either side of the sphere. "That's why I came here personally to take care of what we can out here while you go after the goons manning the weapon itself."

"If you want, I can have my ships fly a few passes, maybe do a bit of strafing nearby, that should put their heads down for a few minutes." Ada offered. "They're about… ten kilometers out, but that's about two minutes of travel time, maybe… ninety seconds if I tell them to kick in the afterburners." She activated her Ki, "Speaking of which, how much fuel _do_ you have?"

 _::Eight tons::_ Keely responded.

"So that's… about twelve hours sublight, six FTL. If it takes that long we've got bigger problems than running out of gas. Be ready to do some intimidation runs over the middle of town if I call." Ada disconnected and nodded to Hunter, " _Oy'an,_ I need you to be ready to go to the ship and sync up at a moment's notice. If there's any warning shots fired, you'll be aiming. I don't trust Condor not to take matters into his own hands and try to shoot the flower."

"You have weapons in the atmosphere?" the Pokemon frowned, worried. "And Atmos hasn't-"

"He probably inspected them and left them alone," Maria responded quickly. "Pika - who else is here with you?"

"Mana insisted on coming, and Grove and Celese as well." Pika motioned to the bushes behind him. "They're scouting out the area that the captured Pokemon are being held; hopefully Grove and Celese will be able to come up with something so that we can get everyone loose."

Maria nodded. "Good call. Be careful - the Flares have Fire, Dark, and Poison-Types at their disposal, unless the ones in there don't have theirs." She nodded to the southern gate, where four Flare goons were standing. "Do what you can to slow them down - we're going on ahead to take out their main base of operations here."

Pika gave a thumbs-up. "I'll let you know if I need anything." He dove back into the bushes and disappeared from sight.

"Grove, Mana, and Celese?" Khrista raised an eyebrow.

"Grovyle, Manaphy, and Celebi," Maria replied without batting an eye. "Specifically, the Grovyle and Celebi from the future timeline, now in the present." She looked around at the overturned cabins, then looked at Khrista with a pointed expression. "Where's the entrance into their base of operations here?"

"Wherever it is, we'll need a bit of rapid entry most likely," Ada's Ki reactivated, "Hunter, get over there, Keely, I need you here, full throttle. Tell Hotshot it's time to rock and roll,"

 _::Affirmative Commander::_ The Ki emitted a building roar of drives followed by a loud _clunk_ sound as the landing gear disconnected from whatever patch of ground Keely was set down on, _::Ready in two minutes::_

"You're losing your edge Vulcan, I heard that excitement," Ada grinned. Hunter flashed out in a teleport and Ada disconnected.

"The base's entrance is over this way." Khrista motioned for the group to follow her, and she started running around the perimeter of the town towards a path that led off to the northwest. "It's disguised as a pillar of rock; it leads straight into an elevator!"

"Underground, huh? Sounds like they've had this place for years, then." Maria looked around at the turned-over town. "I didn't hear any chatter from the townsfolk about recent construction when we came through here last!"

"Lysandre could have disguised it years ago as something that was beneficial to the town!" Clemont spoke up. "I think I remember hearing something about him being up here when he was setting up the Holo-Caster network that most of Kalos runs on!"

"So he's been working on this for years?" Tails asked in surprise.

"He could have started it, then stopped when Cyrus happened," Khrista replied as they reached the rock pillar she'd mentioned. "And then he left everything to collect dust before all this happened." She looked the pillar up and down, frowning. "It looks like the elevator doors aren't accessible right this moment...they must've expected us and sealed off the entrance."

"Then we're gonna have to figure out how to break it open," Maria replied.

"No problem," Ada transformed into Composite just as the familiar brick-like silhouette of a Keelback class combat freighter came over the horizon, "We can just blast it open." Hatches on the top and bottom of the vessel opened, deploying two laser turrets on the bottom and two missile racks on the top. Risa and Composite's enhanced vision allowed them to see a _very_ happy Metroid awkwardly strapped into the pilot's seat.

"Since when do you have a Keelback?" Risa asked.

"Since before your computers could handle fighters, and speaking of which…" A hatch on the bottom of the modified freighter lowered, revealing a fighter that looked like a cross between a delta and a horseshoe with laser weapons on the insides of its mandibles in the bay. The fighter –a Galactic Federation F63 Condor Gelid G - launched with a bright flash of light and roar of sound. Composite deployed the digitizing laser and aimed at the pillar, prompting the entire party to scramble out of the way.

A red aura surrounded the front of the pillar, and Composite announced "Hotshot, We've got your target."

 _::Time to break some windows!::_ an exuberant male voice emerged from Composite's open helmet. The fighter overflew the city, scattering terrified grunts in all directions. It flipped on its tail and flew straight towards the pillar, releasing a sonic boom as its afterburners lit with a roar.

"Whoa!" Tails' ears went straight up. "That's fast!"

"What kind of technology _is_ that?" Clemont asked in amazement. His glasses flashed. "I've got to replicate that!"

"You know what they say, 'Infantry exists to paint targets…'" A brilliant flash of light connected the fighter and pillar, vaporizing the front and revealing the elevator car, "'...For people with real guns.'" Composite said conversationally, retracting their digitizer.

Maria gulped. "I'm glad you gave us a warning! I'd hate to have been caught up in that!"

"No kidding," Khrista agreed.

"Composite, your quills!" Espeon said, worried.

"What about the-Woah! Cuttn' it a little close aren't you Hotshot?" Composite reached a hand up and touched their quills, which seemed to have lost integrity at the tips from the blast. One brief flicker of energy later the damage was repaired.

 _::No problems though, right?::_ the fighter's AI asked.

"Just be a little more careful next time." Composite's visor rezed translucent red, "Now, go back to scaring the goons, no vaping any of them, as for us, we've got a base to take down."

 _::Got it Skipper::_ the muffled voice replied before disconnecting.

Tails blinked a couple times before he shook his head, ears flopping a little. "That is some incredible technology, Composite. Where did you manage to find something like that?"

"The dimension is represented by a game called Elite Dangerous. We know it exists in this dimension because _somebody_ ," they gave a pointed look to Camanion, "Spends more time playing it then she does working. And that's nothing. That ship," Composite gestured towards the freighter, "Can do several thousand times the speed of light when the Frame Shift Drive comes online, jumping up to about fifteen light years in about ten seconds. Camanion built a secondary hyperdrive that allows her to go interdimensional. The fighter is capable of traveling at just under Mach 1 at full throttle and can do about Mach 1.5 with the afterburners. It's a constant source of annoyance that the freighter's burner speed is about two meters per second slower than his full throttle. The freighter's lasers can hit ground targets from orbit and can drop titanium rods that hit the ground with enough kinetic force to vaporize anything in a fifty meter radius or so." The two ships continued to fly over the town, firing beams that missed grunts by inches with some enthusiasm.

"That's impressive," Tails commented. "You'll have to give me the pointers later, after we've taken care of Team Flare."

"Speaking of which, we'd better get down there." Maria jabbed a thumb at the elevator car. "Come on; we probably don't have much time before they try to power it up and do who knows what to the world as a result."

"Yeah, the big scary ships aren't going to hold them for long before they realize that they won't actually do anything," Risa agreed, stepping toward the elevator.

The group stepped into the elevator - which was actually larger than the one that had been in the Flare base below Lumiose - and eyed the control panel that was sitting on a small platform in the center of the elevator.

There were only two buttons on it.

"Going down," Maria commented. She pressed down on the down arrow.

The elevator jolted, then started down the elevator shaft at a rather quick speed. Maria gripped Delta's PokeBall as she and Khrista exchanged determined looks.

Risa exchanged slightly nervous looks with her sisters and reloaded her stun gun. Composite checked that their blades were dulled and sheathed them. Camanion pulled her whip out of Hammerspace and clipped it to her belt. Espeon's gem glowed slightly as she prepared to use her power.

The elevator came to a smooth stop at the bottom of the shaft. They exchanged looks again, then looked back at the elevator door as it opened up behind them.

The room beyond looked like a control center - very much similar to the kind that was in space centers. Men and women in red suits or lab coats moved about from one computer to another, talking among themselves. A set of stairs led up to a higher-up platform that was in front of a glass wall, which showed a dark, circular shaft. Inside the shaft, red and black cables were suspended in the air, leading up towards the surface and down far, far below where they stood now.

"All right." Maria took in a breath, then stepped out of the elevator with purpose. Her metal boots clanged against the floor with enough force to get the people present to turn their heads to look over at them.

"" _Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam,"_ Camanion murmured under her breath.

"Let's try not to," Ada murmured in return. "I don't care if it's a good day for it, I don't intend to die."

As the heads of the Flare goons turned, the group caught sight of black boxes on the backs of their necks.

Composite grimaced, "This… could be a problem."

"Some of them don't feel right," Espeon commented, "Not like humans, not quite like holograms, but they're close."

Composite outright stiffened, "Great. At the worst possible time too. We'll have to lure them out before the Disks start flying."

Maria glanced back at them, frowning a little out of worry as Khrista's eyes narrowed.

"Welcome."

Maria's head turned back sharply towards the raised platform at the end of the room they were approaching, eyes locking with the sharp blue eyes of Lysandre, who stood at the top of the stairs.

"The ultimate weapon's flower has finally bloomed above the soil." Lysandre motioned back to the glass wall behind him, but his movements seemed somewhat stiff. "Don't you find its beauty captivating? As we speak, it draws its energy from the Legendary Pokémon below us." He looked back at the group. "Maria! I apologize that the weapon was unearthed even after you chose not to awaken it in the lab. But conflicting egos drive this world – things don't always go the way you want!"

"Black-boxed," Khrista muttered. Her shirt flickered bright yellow; her hands twitched, sparks flying off her fingertips.

"Risa, can you tell which ones don't belong?" Composite asked.

"Yes," Risa nodded in agreement. She clenched her right fist and summoned her DC-17m in blaster rifle form, this time attached to her arm like a Buster. She immediately turned and drilled a hole through one of the Flare grunts. Before anyone had a chance to react, the grunt gave a disappointed yell, glowed orange, and dissolved into the air with a distinct _bzzzeeet!_ sound.

Maria jumped. "What the-"

"Fcon ICPs," Composite growled. "If you can tell the difference - never mind." About half the grunts came to attention and their human forms faded into humanoid figures in gray armor with purple circuit patterns drawn on them. "- slot them, they don't understand surrender." Their voice rose to a bellow, "ALL NON-COMBATANTS, HIT THE DECK!"

Despite their mind-controlled state, the Flare grunts had no problem obeying that order, taking cover behind whatever came to hand. Switch, lacking weapons, did the same.

"Rogue Program Located, Identifier: Composite, Orders: Return rogue program or proof of deresolution," one of the ICPs said in a monotone. It pulled a Disk off of its back and threw it at Composite. Composite drew their own Disk from its place on their back and blocked the attack before returning the favor.

Lysandre gave a pained look, as if his mind-controlled brain was having trouble comprehending the situation. "Wha-? Who? How?"

Camanion shot forward and tackled him to the ground just in time to keep him from being decapitated by an off-course Disk. "Sorry sir, but what part of 'hit the deck' did you not understand?" She telekinetically swept him behind a console.

Hunter flashed into the room behind Composite. "The goons up top got brave and started taking potshots… hey, where'd the softwares come from?"

"Does it matter?" Risa asked, "They're Fcon goons."

"Can I-"

"Yes _ad'ika_ , you can eat them," Composite nodded.

" _Duu'mhi redalur_ ," Hunter murmured. He shot forward and latched onto one of the ICP's heads.

Camanion took a second to parse the compressed speech before smirking, "Yes, let's dance." She pulled a large laser pointer out of hammerspace and clicked some sort of passcode on a few buttons along it. A visible blue line of light shot out of it, causing the floor to smoke. "Let's dance indeed."

"Maria, Khrista, they're probably weak to fire," Composite noted. They telekinetically slapped down the heads of a group of especially stupid goon just in time for Risa to hose the nearby ICPs with her blaster.

"Hmph." The sparks faded from Khrista's hands as her shirt swirled, gaining a deep red color with the bright yellow. Flames quickly gathered on her hands and crawled up her shoulders.

Maria's arms quickly became covered in flames as well. "Fire, huh? Sounds like these guys'll be a piece of cake!"

Maria and Khrista quickly moved back-to-back and lunged towards a pair of figures that were coming up on them, Disks raised over their heads. "Flame Charge!"

 _Bzzzt!_

Maria came to a stop shortly after ramming through the not-actually-a-Flare-grunt, blinking in surprise at the orange bits as they dissolved into nothing. She shook her head. "It's just like battling Heartless; these things aren't actually capable of thought...yeah." She glared over at another who threw a Disk in her direction, ducked under it, and rammed into him with another fire-coated tackle, as well.

"The perfect grunts, they can obey orders, but they can't question and they can't disobey," Hunter said, squealing happily as his target derezed. Composite's blades sharpened and flashed with green energy as they joined the melee.

Camanion flew up to a higher platform and focused her beam on one of the ICPs, quickly overheating it and causing it to dissolve. Risa got a similar idea and swapped the barrel and magazine of her rifle, converting it from a rapid-fire weapon to a sniper rifle and joined Camanion on her perch, spitting a colorful stream of multilingual profanity

"Don't you usually suppress your emotions in combat?" Camanion asked her sister.

"I'm trying an experiment," Risa snarled..

Espeon's jewel glowed and one of the ICPs was ripped limb-from-limb at the strength of her attack. Composite sheathed one of their blades and summoned their own double-barreled HECU SPAS-12, derezing three ICPs with a single blast.

Risa fired two shots, derezing two ICPs. Sizzling shell casings clattered to the floor below, prompting a Flare grunt to yelp and scramble away from the two that landed right next to her nose. A pair if ICPs threw Disks at Composite. Composite shook their head and made the two disks slam into the wrong programs.

It wasn't too much longer before all the grunts that had been ICPs were completely cleared out, leaving only two scientists and one Flare grunt with his back up against one of the walls. The crushed remains of a black box lay on the ground near him - it was likely that he had slammed against the wall too hard and disabled the device in the process, because he looked absolutely terrified.

Maria and Khrista relaxed out of their attacking stances, then turned and looked up at Lysandre with disapproving frowns as he looked down at them with muted shock.

"How about this?" Maria raised an eyebrow. "We won't let _you_ have your way. You're not setting that weapon off; we're going down below now to release the Legendary Pokemon."

Lysandre blinked a couple times, then shook his head. "Even though resources, space, and energy on this planet are limited, the number of people and Pokémon has increased to an unsustainable level. Whether it's money or energy, the ones who steal are the ones who win in this world. I have the resources to bring the population down to a manageable level, and the will to do it."

"That's probably what Cyrus was thinking when he decided to remake the world," Khrista spoke up. "Just because your idea's different doesn't make you any better, either. _Or_ more beautiful, no matter what you might claim."

Lysandre hesitated. It looked like he wanted to say something, but Khrista's statement had left him without really all that room to say anything in response.

Sparks flew from Khrista's fingers again, and she held up a hand before flicking her wrist. "Thundershock."

The thin, weak burst of electricity zipped through the air and hit the black box that was barely visible on the back of Lysandre's neck. He winced, stumbling back and away a little as the thing fell off his neck and bounced a couple times on the ground, fizzing and spitting from the overload of electrical energy.

Lysandre rubbed at the back of his neck, shook his head, blinked a couple times in confusion. A moment later, his eyes snapped wide, and he looked up at the group. "You don't have much time. Take that door - quickly!" He pointed towards an open door that led down a stairwell.

Khrista nodded. "Get out of here while you still can, Lysandre. We'll take care of things from here - and keep that box with you; it might be a good idea to have proof that you weren't yourself during all this."

Lysandre nodded and grabbed the box before running out of the base, motioning to the Flare grunt and the two scientists to follow him out. They did so in a scrambling panic and were soon cleared out of the base, taking the elevator up with them.

Khrista looked back at the others. "Let's get down there; something tells me we're gonna find more boxed goons down there, so be ready."

Maria cracked her knuckles. "We've been able to avoid getting hit with those so far; we'll be able to handle the rest of them, no problem."

Lethal weapons were swapped out and replaced with non-lethal counterparts. Composite sliced the power cable of an information terminal in half and used it to charge their electrical powers and said, "Let's go." Their visor faded to translucency.

The group moved through the doorway that Lysandre had pointed out before he bolted, and they started working their way through the hall and down sets of stairs.

Khrista looked around, her eyes narrowing as she frowned. "Something's not right...we _should_ be running into Flare goons every few feet down here, but I'm not seeing anybody."

"Considering that we not only just ran into mindless programs given form and we've got something else interfering in what's going on, I wouldn't be surprised that this part is different." Maria's eyes narrowed at the empty hallway ahead of them. "Still, this does feel wrong, somehow."

Composite's visor changed rapidly through different colors, "Yeah, it's too quiet. And it's been too long since anyone's been through here. We're not even seeing residual heat signatures from human passage."

"Not good," Maria muttered.

Because there wasn't anyone who was trying to slow them down, they soon reached the base of the passage and found themselves in front of a dark red door with the Flare logo and an electronic lock with a key pad sitting right in the middle.

"I've got this!" Clemont moved forward, pulling a device out from somewhere on his person. "I've been meaning to test this for a while - it's a machine meant to break electronic locks."

"Well, that seems quite convenient," Maria commented.

"Shauna gets it in the game and follows the player down here," Khrista said, poking Maria in the side. "She uses it and gets it open, but-"

 _Krrzzt!_

Clemont jumped back from the lock in surprise as his device fell to the ground and broke into its base parts. "Shoot; it broke!"

"But the lock's open." Tails pointed at the light that was on top of the keypad, which had shifted from red to green. "We can go in anytime."

"'The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster,'" Hunter quoted, "And I don't need a nose to smell trouble."

"Yeah, I agree," Camanion said, "But given the choice, let's do this." She nervously tossed one of Composite's stun grenades from hand to hand, claws extended in agitation.

Maria nodded grimly in agreement. "Right. Let's get in there and take care of this thing before it destroys everything." She strode towards the door, the rest following close behind.

The Flare-themed door jolted, then split and slid open, revealing a dark, circular chamber with no visible ceiling, simply blackness high above their heads. In the center of the room were two pedestals with cables coming out of them, pulsing with energy. On one was what looked like a leafless, petrified tree. On the other, an egg-shaped object.

And between the two pedestals stood Xerosic, a crazed grin on his face and his hands on his hips.

"Ha! So you did come! I had predicted that you would! The masters are going to be quite pleased about this!" Xerosic rubbed his hands together eagerly, his glasses flashing despite the fact that there was very little light in the chamber.

Composite murmured a vile D'ni curse. Maria clenched her fists and frowned at Xerosic, but there was a nervous glint in her eyes. "Masters? What are you talking about?"

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet? That fool Lysandre was planning on destroying this weapon and not using it at all - a disgrace on his family name, he said! He didn't realize how much power it had, how much _potential_ for changing the world and making it over new, so that my masters could move in! And then you came along, and it gained even _more_ potential - as a way to lure you in!" Xerosic pointed at Maria. "My masters want you as their lead soldier, little World Jumper! And you are coming with me whether you like it or not!"

He snapped his fingers, and the pedestals spat out one cable each, catching Maria by surprise and coiling around her arms tightly.

"H-hey!" Maria pulled back, trying to pull her arms out of the cables, but their hold only tightened; the sound of metal groaning could be heard. "L-let me go!"

"I don't think so!"

"We do," Composite's blades flashed with telekinetic energy, giving them lightsaber-like cutting qualities. They disappeared from sight and the cables fell apart with screeches of metal-on-metal. Composite reappeared, not even breathing hard from the exertion, blades still lit. They glared at Xerosic, "And next time we start cutting organic cables too." It occurred to Composite a second later that the scumbag might not be sane enough to understand that 'organic cables' meant his neck.

Maria stumbled back and quickly regained her balance as soon as the cables fell to the ground, arms dented in slightly from the force the cables had exerted. "Owowowowowow." Her voice came out as more of a hiss.

Xerosic frowned, not startled but certainly annoyed by this rather abrupt turn of events. "We weren't expecting _you_ to get involved in this." His expression brightened. "No matter. You will all be turned over to the masters, then - they'll appreciate a few extra foot soldiers."

The tree and egg-like cocoon shook on their pedestals.

"Oh, yeah?" Khrista started hovering in the air, her shirt shimmering a myriad of colors. "Well we don't appreciate the idea of _being_ foot soldiers. Psycho Cut!"

Khrista made two downward slashing motions with her arms, sending out twin slashes of purple-pink energy at the cables that extended up from the pedestals towards whatever happened to be in the darkness high above their heads.

"Xerneas! Yveltal!" Khrista barked. "Wake up!"

Maria looked at Khrista sharply as the tree and the egg started to shake even more violently, now surrounded by sparks of blue energy. "What? _Those_ are the Legendaries?"

"Tch." Xerosic's brow furrowed, and he took a couple steps back, behind the pedestals. "They still have energy left? But I calculated exactly - they should be completely drained of any and all life force by now!"

"When you're draining life energy, always take more than you think they have," Hunter piped up, "Take it from someone who uses life energy as food."

"Don't give him any more ideas than he's already had!" Khrista snapped at the Metroid.

"And if you try to contact your Masters," Composite summoned their shotgun, "you'll have a shell in you before you can say two words."

The two dormant forms continued to shake, then started to glow before exploding into larger shapes: a large deer with a sprawling rack of antlers, and a Y-shaped creature with its forearms resembling wings.

The light quickly faded from both, revealing that the deer was mostly blue in color, and woven in among his antlers were bands of glowing colors. The other creature was clearly bird-like, and red with black lines like thick veins spread across its wingspan, and a white, furry collar around its red and black neck.

"Whoa…" Maria stared up at the two Legendaries with wide eyes.

Xerneas and Yveltal eyed the group down below them, then turned their attention to Xerosic, who was starting to move back to the other side of the chamber.

" _So, you are the one who has been causing havoc and imbalance."_ Xerneas inclined his head, looking down on Xerosic with a disdained expression.

" _I don't think this one learned from what happened in Sinnoh."_ Yveltal's voice was gruffer than the other Legendary's, and there was an eager growl mixed in. _"I say we give this one the punishment that he deserves."_

" _I could not agree more."_

The two Legendaries sprang down from their respective pedestals and started to move towards Xerosic, Xerneas' horns glowing with power as Yveltal's chest started emitting a brighter red color, that pulsed through his entire form.

"Do not think you can defeat the Dark Arms so easily!" Xerosic shrieked. "There is still enough energy gathered for a single shot!" He raised his hand high, thumb already pressing down on a remote control's switch.

"No!" Maria looked on in horror as Xerneas and Yveltal stopped short of the scientist. "You - why?!"

Composite's hand shot out and the remote went flying before the button was fully pressed. Espeon looked up, gem flashing, "It's still hot, I think it's going to fire whether or not the remote is triggered."

" _Yveltal, get them out of here!"_ Xerneas kicked Xerosic in the head, sending him flying against the back wall and causing the man to collapse.

Yveltal grumbled something, then turned and flew over to where the group was standing. Xerneas galloped over a moment later, antlers still shining with power.

Khrista's shirt turned bright gold. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Xerneas dipped his head, leaving his antlers in reach of the group as Yveltal extended a wing. _"Grab hold, and do not let go. Hurry!"_

Maria latched onto Yveltal's wing instantly, gripping one of his claws. Khrista put a hand on her shoulder. Tails and Clemont ran over to Xerneas and grabbed onto one of his antlers. Risa returned to Camanion's computer as her creator retracted her claws and latched onto an antler as well. Composite grabbed onto a claw, Hunter and Espeon landing on their shoulders, a bit of a tight squeeze, but better than nothing. Camanion held out a hand and Switch grabbed on with a grip almost tight enough to break bone.

" _Teleport!"_ Xerneas and Yveltal shouted together as the entire cavern started to shake and rumble.

There was a bright flash, and suddenly the entire group was standing above ground near the center of Geosenge. They caught sight of the closing top of the flower-shaped weapon dropping into the ground at a fast rate before an explosion came up from below, blowing dust and fire in all directions.

Xerneas flicked his head, and a bright blue shield came into existence between them and the explosion, protecting the group from the backlash. When it had passed, the shield dropped.

Maria looked around at Geosenge and let out a sigh of relief. "Everything's still here."

" _Of course it is,"_ Yveltal grumbled. _"The weapon was to turn against itself if it was ever used again. That fool did not realize it."_

 _::Aww…::_ Risa deployed into the physical world, "I was hoping to do that myself." A brick with a large hazard symbol she was holding derezed, "Nonetheless, pretty explosion."

Yveltal chuckled darkly, a rather sinister smile crossing his face. _"Yes, quite."_

Xerneas shot him a look of disapproval, then looked down at the group. _"I thank you for coming to our and Kalos' aid. I fear that, without the actions that you have taken today, the entire region would have become very much out of balance."_

"I'm just glad that we managed to get here in time," Maria replied. She frowned. "Still, though, this shouldn't have happened."

" _No, it should not have,"_ Xerneas agreed.

" _Whatever bozo decided to interfere really should think twice before doing stuff like that,"_ Yveltal muttered.

"Xerosic mentioned something about dark arms," Khrista spoke up. She looked over at Maria. "I think those are the masters he was talking about - the people who decided to make this happen."

"Could be." Tails tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I haven't heard of any race with that name before, but it sounds too close to the Black Arms that Shadow fought against pre-merge."

"We were thinking the same thing. Maybe the remnants of the Black Arms allied with - or were absorbed by - another race?" Composite put on a thoughtful expression, "Of course, it could just be a coincidence, but in our experience, that's pretty uncommon."

"Well, whoever they are, they messed with the wrong world." Maria clenched her fists. "And if they try to set so much as a _foot_ in any dimension again to take it over, I'll be ready for them."

"Think they're your red-eyed nightmares, then?" Khrista asked.

" _Oh, yeah._ That's definitely them." Maria's eyes sparked. "Xerosic's talk about taking me in matched with my nightmares _exactly._ Now that I know that and at least some of what they're aiming for, I know what to keep an eye on. I'll be ready the next time I see any of those black boxes."

" _While that is all well and good, there is...something else, that has occurred here today."_ Xerneas looked back at the giant hole in the ground where the weapon had been moments before. _"The man who used this three thousand years ago exposed himself to its energies directly. As a result, he has become much more...long-lived, than most."_

" _Which really irks me because I have been waiting to collect his soul and bring it to the afterlife ever since he set it off,"_ Yveltal growled.

"You're talking about AZ," Clemont realized. "But...what does he have to do with today?"

" _You were exposed to that same energy."_ Xerneas lowered his head to look at Clemont first, then at the others in turn. _"While it is not as much energy as what AZ faced, you are still affected in the same manner."_

Maria's eyes widened sharply. "You're saying we could end up living as long as AZ."

"Huh," Composite thought, then snorted, "As reckless as we - the group, that is - seem to be, we doubt that'll be as much of an issue as you'd think," They grinned, "Of course, we - personally - probably aren't even technically _alive_ by the scientific definition, so it's a bit of a non issue."

" _Regardless, the time that a soul has in the physical realm is finite,"_ Xerneas replied. He looked at Maria. _"Use the time you have wisely, extended or not, eternal or not."_

Maria swallowed and nodded a little.

Xerneas lifted his head. _"I believe it is time we took our leave of this place. Perhaps I shall do some traveling of my own, and return to my forest at the end of my time awake."_

Yveltal growled. _"The world has changed much. I would like to see how these finite creatures are coping with the changes that the Mobians brought."_ He grinned a little. _"Perhaps even see what makes them so special."_

The Legendary raised his wings, and with a powerful flap shot up into the air, climbing quickly before disappearing into the clouds above their heads. Xerneas' entire form flashed seconds later, and he disappeared from sight.

"...well, that was...different," Maria said. "Normally one of them would offer to travel with me through the eighth Gym and the Elite Four. Not that I mind it or anything - it's just...different. Huh."

Camanion smirked, "Doubt you'll need the help kid."

Maria laughed. "Yeah, definitely not! My team's near level 60 - they normally don't _get_ this high by now! The Elite Four's gonna be no problem." She paused. "Speaking of which, though...Team Flare's been taken care of - they're not going to be around causing anymore problems. I still want to beat the League here, but as soon as I do that, I'm planning on heading back home." She looked over at Khrista. "What about you?"

Khrista shook her head. "I graduated from high school, same as you did. I don't really need any more education back at home, and I'd kind of like to stick around here." Khrista motioned to Geosenge. "Besides, I think I fit in better here than anywhere else."

"Clemont and I should probably get back to Lumiose and let Professor Sycamore know what's happened," Tails piped up. "It'd probably be a good idea if we looked into this strange energy some, too, just in case it has other effects besides giving us near-eternal life." He paused. "Man, that's a long time…"

Maria nodded, then looked over at Camanion, Risa, Composite, and Hunter. "What do you guys want to do now? If you're gonna stick with me, I'm afraid you'll only be able to travel with me as far as the entrance to Victory Road - Trainers challenging the Elite Four have to take that path alone, besides their team, and I know that Hunter doesn't like the cold, so Snowbelle might not be a place you guys want to hit next."

"That depends… Hunter, where _did_ you send the ship?" Composite asked the young Metroid.

"I told them to go to Mars, but they may have bugged out to Wolf 359 when they saw the bang," Hunter bobbed slightly, somewhat nervous.

"Good. Unless they decided to disobey you, in which case they're probably thinking they could get away with the dark side of the moon or something. Bit of a bad call in that case, since they can't make repairs there," Composite thought, "We'll probably split up here. Actually…" They thought for a moment and turned to Maria, "You mentioned a cousin who does high tech stuff?" They pulled a flash drive out of Hammerspace, "Some data on digitizing lasers and sentient AI. It also has our comm code if you ever need to contact us. Any old device should work, the code knows where it's going," they tossed the drive to a somewhat surprised Maria.

"Whoa!" Maria caught the drive, a small smirk crossing her face. "Cool! Joshua's definitely gonna get a kick out of this. Thanks!"

"I'm staying with you, _Sol'buir_ ," Espeon said, " _Oy'an_ was discussing _Mando'a_ names and I think I'll go with _Ruusaan._ "

"Reliable one… good choice. And what was that you called us? _Sol'buir?_ United one…? That's good, we never thought of that… Anyway, _Ni Kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Ruusaan._ Welcome to the family." The newly named Ruusaan seemed to swell with pride, waving her tail in happiness.

"Actually, splitting up might not be the best idea," Camanion stated, "I still haven't finished analyzing the black boxes yet. I've got _most_ of the software decoded, but I'm about to start work on the hardware. I'm sure you'll want the results as soon as I have them."

Hunter game a slight squeal, "But I don't want to go to a snow town!"

Composite smirked and said into thin air, "Keely, get rid of him."

"I'd proba-" The Metroid vanished mid-complaint as the ship - certainly too close to have properly followed orders about distance - teleported him out. Composite silently pulled the boxes from Hammerspace and tossed them to Camanion, who caught them and slipped them into Hammerspace in a single motion.

Maria winced a little at that, brow furrowing.

Khrista's expression darkened. "Yeah, that's a pretty good point. Whatever it is that's going on with those boxes and the Dark Arms, it'd be a good idea if we knew what was coming with them if we ever hear from them again."

"You can use my lab in Lumiose to pick it apart," Clemont offered. "Tails and I are sharing what equipment we have, and there's plenty of computer power there if you think you need something to supplement what you already have."

"And I have Maria's comm number, so we can still get into contact with her while she's in this dimension," Tails added. "And she's going to be here for a few days yet, since she hasn't taken on the Elite Four yet. Or the eighth Gym, for that matter."

"Yeah!" Maria nodded in agreement. "And now that Team Flare's been taken care of, I can slow down at least a little and help my team get stronger to the point that the Kalos Elite Four won't be a problem. I figure that Delta is more than strong enough to take out the Gym in Snowbelle; it's probably an Ice one."

"Try definitely." Khrista gave a dry smirk.

"Before we go…" Composite mused, "Hey Maria, you wanna have a quick spar?"

Maria inclined her head at the question. "A spar? Hm. Well, I don't see why not." She shrugged. "I _had_ thought that I'd end up fighting myself more against Team Flare, but other than what happened in the base before we went after Xerosic, I haven't really had to do much." She smirked a little. "So I guess I'm not against it."

"If you're gonna spar, you probably shouldn't do it so close to that pit." Khrista pointed at the giant hole next to them.

"You make a good point. Our situational awareness is pretty good, but even we fail to notice a pitfall on occasion. Usually to our detriment," Composite nodded and glanced around. "Nice clearing over there though. How's that?"

"Yeah, that'll work." Khrista nodded. "It's far enough away from town and the gravestones on Route 10 to put them in harm's way."

"Should I fight too?" _Ruusaan_ asked.

Composite laughed, "No _ad'ika,_ while the best way to win a one-on-one fight _may_ be to be the third person to show up, there's a difference between a friendly spar and a full battle."

"Definitely." Maria nodded. "Spars are more like training, when you're testing the other person. Battles are when you're aiming to knock them to the ground and have them beg for mercy."

"With that said," Composite headed over to the clearing, _"Duu'mhi geroya,_ Let's play," they drew their blades, ensured they were properly dulled, and assumed a ready position.

Maria followed after Composite and took up a position across the clearing from her. A smirk went across her face for a moment before it was replaced with a determined expression, and Maria took up a somewhat defensive stance with her fists up in front of her. Sparks of fire flew off the tips of her knuckles.

Clemont pushed his glasses further up his nose. "This is going to be interesting. I haven't seen the Champion of Five Regions face off against an opponent like this before."

"It'll definitely be interesting to see how much stronger Maria's gotten since I last saw her," Tails agreed.

Composite inclined their head to their opponent, "Let's do this." They shot forward, blades swinging in from left and right.

Maria ducked down and shot forward, flames starting to lick at her shoulders before covering her upper half in a sudden wave of energy in her own form of a Flame Charge.

Composite yelped and dove out of the way, slashing at Maria's legs on the way past.

Maria yelped and stumbled, Composite's blades scraping against her armor as they went past. Maria managed to regain her balance and spun on one foot to face Composite again, her right arm shifting into her Buster as she went. Maria quickly aimed at Composite and fired a sphere of yellow, sparking energy - a Stun Shot.

"Bad idea," Composite's left hand flashed out, absorbing the electric attack and sending it back in a beam of arcing electricity.

"Ya!" Maria moved to get out of the beam's way by scrambling to the left, but an arching branch off the main beam still hit her anyway, causing her right arm to go limp, sparks shooting off it. She hissed at the pain of it, then held up her left hand and started shooting fireballs at Composite.

Composite yelped and dodged, their right hand taking some damage from the assault.

"Don't think this is gonna be easy!" Maria clenched her left fist tightly, and a curved blade shot out from the side of her left forearm, curving around her clenched fist. It became covered in flames a moment later, and she lunged forward, aiming to slash at Composite's legs herself.

Composite grimaced and leapt in a flip, barely evading the slash and bringing the flat of their left sword on the top of Maria's head, "We wouldn't have it any other way!"

The blade collided with its intended target. "Ow!" Maria landed on the ground, face-first, then looked up with an annoyed snarl before she _spat_ a fireball at Composite and scrambled to her feet.

Composite's left arm blackened from the heat. "You're strong with your element. Changing tactics!" Composite popped up the same way they would to transform into Ada. Green energy swirled around them and they transformed into a matte gray robot with three rotating weapon arms below and a physical shield in front.

The sparks stopped flying off Maria's right arm as she took a step back in surprise at the transformation; she blinked a couple times before she grinned. She aimed her Buster at Composite again, only this time she shot out an orange orb of energy - her default shot. Then she started running around the clearing as her Buster started to glow, gathering energy.

The robot deflected the small shot off of its shield and brought two of its weapons into line. Both activated, firing a stream of flaming rubber bullets.

"Ow! Flash-ow-Fire!" Maria took the hits from the rubber bullets as they bounced off her armor, leaving nearly unnoticeable dents as their flames were abruptly sucked from them on contact. Then Maria aimed her Buster at the robot. "Charged Buster Shot!"

The explosion of orange energy that came out was bigger than Maria's head.

The robot emitted a mechanical shriek, attempting to both dodge and angle its shield to deflect as much of the attack as possible, but still took the brunt of the blast. It seemed to skid backward, the relatively weak weapon arms squealing in protest at the unaccustomed g-forces. It seemed to shake itself and reconfigured its weapons, replacing fire with electricity.

Maria had _not_ been expecting the abrupt change in weaponry, and ended up paying for being in the line of the bullets. Her movements stumbled, and a shield of fire quickly flashed into existence and sent the bullets bouncing in different directions as sparks flew from Maria's joints; she wasn't going to be able to move very much until it wore off.

Maria growled in frustration, fire starting to gather on her twitching limbs. "Come on, come on...Fire Blast!"

An explosion of flames whipped out from Maria in a five-pronged shape towards her opponent.

Composite swirled with energy and transformed into some sort of crocodile-like creature that was clearly meant to anchor to a wall. The fire blast had _some_ effect, but less than it would have on the robot and certainly less than it would have on Composite's normal form. Once the flames died down, they transformed into a purple humanoid with green highlights on its arms, firing three long streams of energy from its hands.

Maria yelped and rolled in order to avoid the energy streams, taking her shield of fire with her. Two of them missed, but one hit her in the foot, shooting a neat hole through her armor.

Maria let out a mechanical shriek that caused their audience to flinch back at the noise, then glared at Composite's new form as fire started to gather even more over the Reploid. "White Flare!"

The explosion of red-white fire was a little harder to dodge; it split into multiple tendrils and shot at Composite from multiple angles, boxing them in.

The Zebesian gave an angry chatter and exploded into tendrils of red energy that slipped through any crack they could find and reformed Composite on the outside. "Okay… that was good… Our turn…" Their voice reconfigured into a loud shriek, "HEARTS ON FIRE… STRONG DESIRE… RAGES DEEP WITHIN…"

"Gah!" Maria stumbled back, her fire shield flickering and dying at the noise as she clapped her hands over her ears in order to block out the noise as much as she could.

"That's Maria's Theme!" Khrista exclaimed in surprise.

"Her _what?"_ Tails looked at Khrista in confusion.

"It's music that resonates with her a little," Khrista explained quickly. "I heard it last year, but…" She frowned in confusion. "How does _Composite_ know it?"

"Happy accident," Composite said, returning their voice to normal, "Just happened to be playing when we cut loose. We always play music in our helmet in combat, helps us with rhythm. Good song though."

Maria waited for a second, then lowered her hands from her ears with a wince as Khrista nodded. _"Geez,_ that was loud." Maria winced and put a hand to her left ear, standing more on her right leg than her left, which had the hole from the energy beam cut through it. "My ears are still ringing a little. I'm definitely gonna need some repairs…." She shook her head, trying to get rid of the ringing.

Composite remained in a defensive pose for a few seconds before sheathing their blades and saying, "And…. Endex. Sorry about the foot."

Maria looked down at her left foot. "At least you didn't cut it clean off. Khrista, you mind blasting me? I want to try something."

"Not a problem." Khrista's shirt turned a deep red, and she breathed in before spitting out a flamethrower, encasing Maria completely in flames.

"Flash Fire!"

The fire was sucked into Maria's form; the dents in her armor from the little rubber bullets suddenly came undone with the sound of hail hitting a tin roof, and the hole in her foot closed in on itself.

Tails came over instantly and grabbed Maria's foot before she could put it on the ground. "It's almost like it wasn't even cut through!" He looked up. "How did you know that would work?"

"I didn't." Maria shrugged. "I just figured that, since I get energy back from absorbing fire, it could help fix things. And I guess it does!" She laughed a little, looking down at her foot with something of an amazed expression. "I'll have to remember that next time I go up against someone and I don't have anything nearby to do repairs."

"How did you…? I knew you could transform but… I didn't know it could affect your skills and abilities," Ruusaan asked, almost lost for words.

"Oh, that? Well… we can get morph forms in two ways. We can make them ourselves, like we did with Ada and our ball form," Composite briefly transformed into.a red sphere roughly one meter in diameter, "Or we can copy them, like we did with the forms we used in battle." They attempted to transform into another form, but the energy exploded away from them early, prompting a yelp, "Okay, apparently we _can't_ use Samus's form here. Must be a range thing. We can't use the same form as someone who currently occupies the same dimension, though there are some exceptions apparently. Like say the Zebesian form we used comes from the same as Samus. Apparently grunts have less limitations than others."

"Well, Samus and Pokemon are both part of the same group when it comes to video games," Khrista pointed out. "I wouldn't be surprised if she'd be able to cross over and stop by here every once in a while."

"Here's hoping that if she does she doesn't point her weaponry at anybody," Maria responded as Tails let go of her foot.

"In our experience, Samus doesn't shoot first, she waits for the other person to attack. And then annihilates them. Unless it's Ridley, and then she skips the waiting part. Understandable if you know their history," Composite replied.

"I doubt she will," Tails responded. "If she knows about Pokemon because of the Smash tournaments, she knows how things work around here at least a little." He looked over at Clemont and Camanion. "Do you guys want to head back to Lumiose now? It's early afternoon, so there's plenty of time to get started on analyzing the data in those mind control devices."

"Now's as good a time as any," Camanion nodded.

Tails nodded, then looked over at Switch, who had been pretty quiet over the course of the match. "What about you?"

"I'm sticking with my mentor. I've got nothing left in Kalos to stay for," Switch replied. "I'm willing to help with the analysis."

"And the more help you guys get, the sooner we can get answers," Maria said with a determined nod. She considered saying something else, then looked over at Composite and cocked her head to one side curiously. "That copy thing. Does it let you copy pretty much anybody you come in contact with?"

"Well… probably. We've got a form that wouldn't fit in this clearing," Composite said, trying to figure out where Maria was going with this.

Maria's eyebrows shot up at that. "Wha - really?"

"Why are you asking them that?" Khrista asked, frowning. "It's not like you can do that." Her eyes narrowed. "Can you?"

Maria snorted and waved off Khrista's stare. "Nah, nah; I've only got my firepower and that's it; I don't have a Copy Chip or whatever it is that Rock and Xavier use to copy weapons." She looked at Composite. "It's just that, well, all things considered, I was wondering if you've got all your weaknesses covered."

"Not really, fire's still a bit of an issue for us," Composite thought for a moment, "It mostly bypasses our data shell and can hit physical components."

"I was wondering why those things fell apart so easily back in the Flare base," Maria muttered, remembering the programs that they had taken down. "I've got a natural defense against it causing me harm, so maybe I'd be able to give you some help against things like that."

"We can see that working…" Composite placed their hand on Maria's shoulder, "Download!" Text scrolled along their display as the new data loaded.

 **Copy Form  
Name: Maria  
Type: Hardware Sentient with unknown components  
Strengths: Durable, Immune to Fire  
Weaknesses: Difficult to self-repair  
Abilities: Pyrokinesis, Superhuman strength, Buster with fire, electric, and ice  
Copy Complete  
Verification Complete**

Their appearance flickered, matching Maria's for a second before returning to normal.

Maria instinctively shuddered – probably at the scanning beam effect from the download.

"Maria?" Khrista asked in concern.

"I'm fine." Maria stepped back a little, shaking her head. "Just felt like Ratchet with that medical scanner. Bit too ticklish for my liking."

Composite's hand jerked back, "Something did _not_ like that."

Maria blinked at that, then frowned. "What do you-"

"The Protocol!" Tails blurted out.

Maria stiffened at that, eyes widening. "Oh, yeah...that thing."

"The… Protocol?" Camanion asked, unable to stop herself.

Sensing that it was a sensitive subject, Composite said, "Must be some sort of defense system. Something like ours."

"...something like that," Maria said carefully. "It didn't do anything when you copied my abilities, did it?"

"It sort of scanned our own process and then must have decided that we weren't doing anything we shouldn't be and ignored us. All it really did was warn us to disconnect quickly," Composite shrugged, "It must have specific parameters that we didn't violate."

Maria rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, it does that. Last program that decided it wanted to slip in wanted to do a few things that my systems wouldn't have liked, so it got kicked out rather violently."

"Brainiac?" Khrista asked.

Maria shook her head. "Limited virus, at the start of the summer."

"Oh." Khrista blinked a couple times. "Must've happened after I left."

Maria snorted. "Probably, yeah. Either that, or you popped out after Joshua and I left and before we came back." She looked over at Composite. "I'm glad it didn't think you were too dangerous; I don't know what would have happened then, and I don't think I want to find out."

"We don't either," Composite nodded, "We didn't sense much of its usage - and we didn't try - but we did sense enough to tell that it's got teeth, and from what you've said, sharp ones."

"Considering what it defends against, it has to," Tails replied. He looked at Maria, cocking his head to one side as he looked her up and down. "Well, you look and sound like you've been able to keep yourself in one piece, so I guess I shouldn't be too worried, huh?" He smiled a little, then pulled out a PokeBall, releasing a humanoid Pokemon with a long mustache and two spoons held in three-fingered claws. "Alec, we're gonna need a teleport back to the lab in Lumiose."

" _Just say the word."_ The Alakazam dipped his head in an elegant nod.

Tails looked over at Clemont, Switch, and Camanion. "Whenever you guys are ready."

" _Qapla',"_ Camanion nodded to Composite. Risa returned to her computer, ready for transport.

"Eh… keep trying. Anyway, _Ret'urcye mhi,"_ Composite responded.

Switch nodded, "Let's go."

Tails motioned the group closer to Alec, and the Pokemon's spoons flashed before they disappeared in a bright pink-purple flash, leaving Khrista, Maria, and Composite standing alone.

"Well, I guess we're starting to split, then." Maria sighed and looked over at Composite. "So, where are you headed next?"

"Honestly, not sure." Composite thought for a moment and transformed into Ada, "We'll probably just wander for a bit, put Ruu through her paces, eventually head out to somewhere. Either I'll know by then or we'll just choose somewhere and show up."

Hunter teleported down, _"Bu'ir,_ what'd you do that for?"

"Didn't want to listen to your complaining about the ice, which we aren't going to, so I thought you'd want to say goodbye," Ada shrugged at the irritated Metroid, before cheering him up by opening a brief argument, "And if I _ever_ catch you sitting in my seat again, I'll push you out the airlock!"

"I can take it, you know I can!" Hunter squealed indignantly.

"And yet you complain about being too cold at the freezing point of water," Ada pointed out, "When you survive just fine at absolute zero. Anyway, we'll continue this conversation later," She inclined her head to Maria and Khrista, _Ret'urcye mhi,_ maybe we'll meet again."

"Yeah, maybe." Maria nodded as Khrista inclined her head.

" _Ad'ike,_ let's go," Ada nodded to Hunter and Ruusaan. The three turned and walked off in no particular direction.

"Bye!" Hunter made a sort of bobbing wave motion.

 **And that's the chapter. The primary crossover component is complete, but Camanion still needs to analyze the boxes. I'll have that up in the next few days, so see you then!**

Glossary of _Mando'a_ words  
 _Duu'mhi redalur!_ : Let's dance! (Self made, literally "Allow us dance," battle cry)  
 _Duumir_ : Allow, permit  
 _Mhi_ : We, us (Plural pronoun)  
 _Redalur_ : Dance, usually not a euphemism for fight  
 _Solus_ : One, united, together, lonely  
 _Solan_ : United one (nickname and alias of Composite, self made)  
 _Sol'buir_ : Variant of Solan used by Oy'an and Ruusaan, literally Mama Solan  
 _Ni Kyr'tayl gai sa'ad_ : Followed by a name, Mandalorian adoption ceremony in its entirety (Literally "I know your name as my child." Possibly one of the most important ceremonies in Mandalorian culture.)  
 _Ret'urcye mhi_ : Goodbye (literally "Maybe we'll meet again.")  
 _Geroya_ : Play (literally "almost hunt")


	11. Chapter 11: Analysis

**So, final chapter. Let's see what sort of mischief Camanion can come up with.**

 **Thanks to FourthWallBreaker for the review! Yeah, I had a lot of fun with the crossover too. I had a lot of fun with those scenes where Composite, Hunter, and Maria were sort of dancing around the whole mind control issue. I remember the power plant scene was really fun to write. I also distinctly remember having** _ **way**_ **too much fun writing the Mable Vs Composite and Hunter fight, an attitude reflected by my characters.**

 **Chapter 11: Analysis**

 **POV: Camanion**

I carefully cleared some space on a desk in Clemont's lab and pulled up a stool. I _could_ have sit in a human style chair, in fact I usually do back home, but all my chairs back home have holes drilled in the back for my tail, and without that they're too uncomfortable to use for any real length of time. Besides, I use my tail to communicate with Risa silently and I can't do that when it's pressed up against my back. I sat down and extended the fingers of my right paw, folded my cane, and slipped it into Hammerspace.

"So, the usual kit?" Risa asked.

"Yeah, screwdrivers, screw organizer, possibly a soldering iron and some braid," I prompted.

"Yeah, I've got those," Clemont carried the requested tools over. Not surprising, those are all pretty standard equipment.

I pulled the boxes out of Hammerspace and placed them on the desk. I placed the tools in specific locations and felt for a seam on the edge of the box. "Do you, by any chance, happen to have any jeweler's screwdrivers?"

"Yes," Tails came over with a set. Still not entirely surprising. They're less common then normal screwdrivers, but they're required for most microelectronic work

"Good, these are small," I pulled out a small flathead and removed a plate, revealing a confusing mass of electronic and mechanical equipment. I grimaced and pulled out a face visor, put it on, and flipped a switch on the side. The HUD powered up and I activated the rarely used visual enhancement feature. I really hate using it, and I know plenty of blind people who can do it without any need for such equipment. It makes me the butt of no end of jokes among my peers that I can't do analysis with entirely my hands, but I don't really care that much. I'm good at analysis, but I'm a _terrible_ blind person.

"What's that for?" Switch asked.

Risa rezed a visor of her own, "It tracks Camanion's blind spots and attempts to compensate for them, mostly successfully. It also allows her to zoom in on small parts and read markings that even I have trouble reading. Plus it allows me and anyone else with one to see what she sees without crowding around her."

"Right," I confirmed. I stared at the internals of the box for several seconds, zooming in on several different parts before coming to a conclusion, "Say what you like about their plans and methods, but the Dark Arms are skilled engineers. This design is pretty elegant." Risa gave an affirmative grunt. Not to put too fine a point on it, but elegance is the highest complement one engineer can give to another. Perfection is higher, but only the six simple machines have achieved that status.

"Maybe we should get this to Dr. Kintobor later and see what he thinks of it," Tails commented. "I bet he'd be willing to find a way to make something we could use as a defense against it."

"Do you think I could help?" Clemont asked.

"Maybe. We'd have to make sure that you didn't add a self-destruct button by accident."

"Uh… can't see it," Switch said.

"Oh, right. Not used to having anyone but Risa working with me," I used the hand not holding a screwdriver to pull a second visor from Hammerspace and sync it up before holding it out in Switch's general direction. This unit was running a simplified HUD since it was Switch's first time using it. Mine is far more complex, but I've been using it for months. Risa has an HUD that's more complex than mine, but she only uses the visor to indicate to others that it's in use, since hers is linked into her visual systems.

Switch sat down and slipped on the visor, quickly figuring out the HUD I had designed.

"So simple a salescritter could handle it," Risa commented.

"How did you know I was thinking about that, are you psychic too?" Switch asked in consternation.

"No, that's just what everyone thinks when they first see it," Risa replied.

A small chip flickered with energy and detached from its slot before floating out. I guessed that someone would be curious, and said, "My telekinesis may not have as much raw power as Composite's, but I've got more fine control. Analyze this for me, would you sis?"

"Sure thing," Risa swiped the chip out of the air and felt the lower surface where it made contact with the board. "I _think_ it may have been based on an ARM architecture. This is a storage chip."

"Storage for what?" Tails frowned, his twin tails twitching back and forth curiously.

"This one seems to store instructions for the individual, but this one's blank so I can't be certain," Risa scowled and placed the chip next to the box. "Hey Camanion, get that chip, it looks pretty similar." Tails and Clemont couldn't see how Camanion knew which was 'that' chip, but a moment later another chip popped out.

"...This one's more useful it's got some data on the Dark Arms, but nothing we don't already know," Risa placed it next to the first.

I nodded in response to something Tails said earlier, "Yeah, we probably should let Dr. Kintobor have one. It's not like we don't have extras or anything."

"Could you not do that?" Switch asked, "It makes it harder to see. Hey, those look like the prongs, should we try tracing those?"

"Just a sec," I pulled two more visors, one Mobian and one human and synced them before placing them on the desk. A few gears, circuits and wires popped out of the box and reformed outside it, revealing the prongs underneath. A box appeared on the other visors near the base as I zoomed in on them, moving along a set of wires.

Tails and Clemont took the unspoken invitation and pulled the visors on over their heads, Clemont taking a moment to settle his over his glasses.

"So, what are we looking at?" Tails asked.

"This is the whole box. You can double-blink to zoom in and out on locations. That box tracing the wires from the prongs is what I'm looking at right now. It's a little gadget me and Risa cooked up a while back while we were reverse-engineering some of Composite's D'ni tech. Risa, chip," Another chip disconnected from the box and flew to Risa.

"Looks like this part determines what it's plugged into and translates the instructions from the machine into the appropriate patterns," Risa said, reading the chip's code, "Actually, it's a pretty good design. Much more efficient than having separate boxes for every species they plan to use it on."

"What's that?" Clemont pinged a hunk of hardware near the back of the device.

Risa trailed the wires coming out of it, "Looks like a power source. Looks like inductive charging with some sort of thermal backup."

"And that means?" Switch asked.

"Oh, its primary way of charging relies on an external device, probably a docking station or charging mat. When it's not actively controlling a target - like when they're asleep or knocked out - it uses their body heat to top off its charge. It wouldn't be able to run infinitely even with this backup, but it can last much longer, maybe as much as five times as long," Risa said, studying the component closely.

"Why do you need to analyze every chip if you've seen the software?" Tails asked.

"It helps to see the way everything connects," I explained, not looking away from the box, or an especially stubborn chip I was trying to remove, "I can tell _most_ of which chips do what from the software, but the way they're wired together is also helpful. Plus there's a lot more to admire in the hardware design than the software. It's clear that they put more effort into the hardware. Hey Risa, does this chip look like it's secured in?"

"Yeah, Epoxy, it's an important chip all right. There's no aluminum powder though, so you should be clear to just heat it off," Risa examined the joints of the chip.

A soldering iron came into the visor view."Nice," Switch said. I assume'd he'd gone to passthrough for a moment and noticed that the iron wasn't being held by a hand.

"Yeah, being able to solder a VGA cable - the ones with 15 pins - is always a nice party trick," I said absently, more focused on melting the Epoxy resin without damaging the chip.

"A four pin USB is enough if the other partygoers have had enough drinks," Risa added as an aside.

"Okay, it's out," I diverted the topic by floating the chip over to Risa and placing the iron back on the table.

"Let's see… Camanion, you're a better cryptologist than I am, what's this?" Risa pushed a string of hex code onto my visor.

"Convert it to an image," I said, "See how it's only two values outside of the beginning and end? I'm guessing that the beginning and end are instructions for interpreting the image. One's a black pixel and one's a white pixel."

The hex disappeared, replaced by a stream black-and-white images, none of them coherent, ending with one of a group of decidedly non-human humanoids once Risa had brute-forced the dimensions of the image.

"...You know, the scariest thing about this image is the similarities with us," I commented after a moment of stunned silence.

"What do you mean? It doesn't look anything like us!" Clemont said indignantly.

"No, not the creatures, the image itself and what its presence means. It's an old hacker tradition to include an image of the development team in the boot block of this sort of device. I _think_ it started with the Mac developers," I explained. "Once Composite gets in, we'll have to ask them if they can identify it."

"They look a little like the Black Arms," Tails commented worriedly.

"Hackers? As in break-into-computers-and-leave-viruses hackers?" Clemont asked, slightly confused.

My face darkened and Risa immediately spoke up, "Camanion… don't start. He's too young to understand the anger."

I sighed, "No, hackers in the old sense. Programmers, Coders, Inventors. People who can think outside the box and make a computer do things you'd never imagine. A long-dying culture that's been fading since before I was born. Sometimes it seems like me and my sister are the last holdouts."

"But moving on," Risa said, quickly diverting the subject before I could sink any deeper into my rant, "There's something else here… A sort of instructions. Maybe a mission statement?" She pushed the text out to all the visors and we all read in silence.

 **The Command Interface  
Created by the Dark Arms Science Division  
Project created under supervision of Project Fire Catch**

Switch made the connection first, "Maria!"

"What about Maria?" Risa asked.

"She's a fire elementalist. Maybe this 'Fire Catch' has something to do with her?" His brow furrowed in thought, "I can't tell what it's about. Maybe to capture her? Or kill her? Is there anything else about Project Fire Catch?"

"No," Risa answered, "I wish there was."

"Either way," Tails said, "We have to warn her."

 **Time Break**

"Hey guys, you found anything interesting?" Ada asked, Hunter and Ruusaan right behind.

"Yes." I stated. I assumed Ada was surprised, since I didn't sound in the least happy or excited, a rarity for me. "Connect to the visors, I need you to look up an image."

"Okay…" Ada connected to the visor network and quickly located the image of the development team. She was silent for a solid minute before speaking. "There's nothing."

"What do you mean there's nothing?"

"Well, there's some info on the Black Arms, but nothing that doesn't line up with events that happened in the past pre-merge, or with events that happened in the past of other dimensions. There's nothing to be found. I've checked through virtually the entire public internets in three dimensions and there's _nothing_ after the defeat of Devil Doom and the destruction of the Black Comet… Wait… no, never mind, just some artwork for a heavy metal album that looks similar."

"... I feel like I should recognize them…" Risa said, "But the Black Arms connection is throwing me for a loop."

Well," I said, "Let's keep going on this… _mir'osik?_ Was that your word Hunter?"

"Yep, that was mine!" Hunter chirped happily and connected to the visors. Ada thought for a moment before transforming into Composite, digitizing a visor for Ruusaan, and reverting to Ada.

"Wow, there's a lot of stuff here," Ruu commented, having quickly figured out the interface.

"Yeah, let's see how much we can get before we start to collapse from exhaustion," I said, looking around, "Speaking of which, is there a good place to get coffee around here?"

"There are a number of decent cafes that we can order from," Clemont commented. "Lumiose is full of them. Lysandre's _was_ the closest, but since it's closed down, I should be able to order from one of the other ones...what are you guys going to want?"

"Strongest they have, and lots of it. When I say that I'm going to work at this until I collapse, I _mean_ it!" I threw myself into my work with renewed vigor.

Clemont took a step back in surprise, then nodded. "All right. I'll see what I can find!" He turned and dashed out of the lab. "Tails, I'm probably going to need some help bringing it back!"

"Right behind you!" Tails followed Clemont out.

 **Time Break**

I was jolted alert by her computer emitting a distinct phone ring. _Woah, Priority Interrupt!_

"Wha-?" I glanced out a window, "How long was I out?" She glanced at her computer's clock, "Has it been twelve hours already?"

"Uh…" Risa stalled, "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"I've been working for thirty-six hours straight? Well, not a record, but not bad."

Composite shrugged, "Everyone else who needs to sleep has already dropped off. Ruu's been cycling in six-hour intervals. She'll be back in about fifteen minutes or so. Clemont and Tails have been doing eight hours, Clemont should wake up in about four hours and Tails's first cycle was ten hours so he'll be back in six, and Oy'an's been doing twelve on four off, but I think he's burning out, he hasn't been working since 28. Switch lasted for a solid 24, but he hasn't gotten back since. Never heard that tone before, what is it?"

"Indications that some of Flare is still active. I redirected their helpdesk to my number," My speech was somewhat slurred and my hands were shaking badly from the caffeine, but I was still functional. The phone went to voicemail and no message was left.

"Are you going to call back?" Risa asked.

I pulled some papers out of Hammerspace and placed them on the table, "In case I need to shuffle some, so yes," I triggered my call history.

 _::Hello?::_ a male voice asked nervously.

"Yeah, whaddayawanattwoam?" I slurred.

 _::Sorry to bother you, but the new computer's giving me problems since I moved my travel stickers to it.::_ The grunt said, still a little nervous and apologetic.

"Is it a Dell?" Camanion asked, instantly knowing what the problem was.

 _::Yeah, how did you know?::_

"All the new computers are Dells, and it's been causing lots of problems. Some of them come with their…" I shuffled papers for a moment and glanced at an item in my HUD, "Entropic compensators calibrated badly. Has your entropic compensator been recalibrated?"

 _::Uh… no?::_ the grunt asked, confused. I grinned and gave a thumbs-up to my sisters. Composite snickered, recognizing their supervisor's signature trick.

"Okay, so I need you to shut your computer down," I turned to Risa and raised a questioning eyebrow. Risa activated the security cameras she had access to and quickly located the caller. She made a large hand signal moving her hand down before making a sort of blinking my opening and closing her hand and I shrugged. The user had turned off his monitor, but considering what I was about to do, it wouldn't be much of an issue.

"Okay, now I need you to pull your power strip out to the front of your desk. This is important."

 _::Uh, why?"::_ a confused grunt asked.

"Well, if there's a catastrophic failure, I don't want you to be near it, now flip off the switch," Risa signaled that the user complied.

"Okay, now I need you to open up the case."

 _::*clunk* Uh-huh…::_

"Okay, now find the power supply. It's the box the power cord goes into. It'll have two knobs on it, one with an A and one with a V. I need you to wind those knobs all the way to the right."

 _::Duh-huh…::_

"Your compensators should be calibrated. Now close it up and keep that power strip turned off for fifteen minutes so the supply can reset. Then flip it on. Make sure you aren't touching the case of the computer, just in case."

 _::Okay, thank you! *click*::_

"What was that all about?" Ruusaan yawned, wandering over.

"He's got about fifteen minutes -" I started.

"Five," Composite corrected cynically.

"- minutes before his power supply blows up. That's why I had him move the power strip. I know what model he's got and the fireball always goes out the back. The problem was that the magnetic stickers were interfering with his computer," I finished, then smirked and added," Under the circumstances, the fact that he thanked me can only be described as highly ironic."

"But why did it only start when he got a new computer?" Ruu asked curiously.

"The operative word is Dell. Most computers put their main boards on the right side of the case. Dells put it on the left, so with a normal computer the magnets are too far to cause interference. Not so much with a Dell, where they're right up against the board," I explained, "Bit of a fright, but unless he's right behind the computer he'll be fine. Keep an eye on him Risa, just in case he tries to do something stupid."

"How can you possibly be so lucid?" Ruu asked, incredulous.

"Dunno, it's just something I'm good at," I shrugged and returned her attention to the gutted mind control box.

 **Time Break**

"Whew! I'm done with the box and my head is _killing_ me!" I leaned back, sitting up straight, "And so is my back. I _really_ should have set up a camera instead of just using my visor input. How long was that?" I rubbed my forehead, hoping that it would help with the raster burn. No luck. I'm pretty sure this could be qualified as a hangover.

"From when you sat down? 63 hours, 28 minutes, and 49 seconds," Risa answered, showing some signs of fatigue herself.

"That long? Couldn't have been more than two days! What happened to the Flare base?"

"Dunno," Risa said innocently, "The fire alarm mysteriously went off ten minutes later. Nobody got hurt, but when they realized it was a Team Flare installation, an opportunistic cop – who may or may not have gotten an anonymous tip - picked up a dozen members. None of them boxed, and none of them with access to any good info."

"Nice. Risa, go ahead and package up the info, leave it where Tails can find it and get some sleep, Put a note on it to get it to Maria." I said.

"Leave what where I can find it?" Tails asked, getting off of a cot in the corner.

"Complete results," I gestured to two gutted and two intact boxes, the former surrounded by halos of neatly sorted parts, "Risa'll package the info so you can send it on.. After that, I'm gonna take about sixteen or so."

"Sixteen what?" Tails asked, already guessing the answer.

"Hours of sleep," I rubbed my forehead right above my eyes, "Not the longest I've done, but the only one I can think of that lasted longer was when I made her core AI code," I gestured towards Risa, who was placing a flash drive onto the desk between the boxes. She exploded into blue energy which sluggishly returned home to my computer. I placed her visor in Hammerspace and headed towards the bathroom, trying to decide if someone had surgically replaced my bladder with a medicine ball when I wasn't paying attention or if I just really had to go that bad.

 **POF: 3** **rd**

"I honestly didn't think that anyone could go for that long," Clemont commented. "St-staying up for almost three days straight, I mean. I've done overnighters before working on my projects, but...I've never been awake for _that_ long."

"Whew," Switch removed his visor, "I'm gonna hit the sack too."

"Her record is about five days," Ada said, "I'm not sure exactly how long it was though, Risa came online about a week later."

"Talk about commitment!" Clemont yelped.

"No kidding; even _I_ took breaks when I was building the Tornado," Tails agreed. He looked over at the drive that Risa had put down, his amazed expression becoming more grim. "So that's the information that we need to get to Maria, then."

"Yeah, that's the data," Ada grinned, "And commitment is right, she was so out of it when she wrote our core AI code that not even she understands it, though she's making good progress. The sleep deprivation was part of the effectiveness I'm sure."

Tails nodded absently as he picked up the drive. "So, what's all on this? I assume the information about there being a Project: Fire Catch, at least, considering there's a chance it's connected to Maria somehow."

Ada thought for a moment, "If I know my sister, it'll have that of course, but it'll have a complete analysis of the device, models of every part of the device and how it fits together, the code both in original form and somewhat translated to English," she shrugged, "It's got plenty of info that anyone could understand, and more advanced material that could probably be used to build one with the right equipment. Risa's a real nut where completeness is concerned."

"Well, that could be useful. I think I'll send a copy of this to Kintobor, too - he's definitely going to want to have a look at this. He and I should be able to figure out an upgrade to Maria's defense program that could take this into account, and we'll be able to send a data package to her later." Tails moved the drive from one hand to the other absently. "Her systems should be able to pick up signals from across dimensions, so I'll let her know that we're going to put something together and send it to her regardless of whether she's in our dimension or not."

With that said, Tails moved over to one of the computers in the lab and started typing up an email to Kintobor. Before he sent it off, he plugged the drive in and attached a copy of the information Camanion and Risa had pulled together. Then he did the identical actions a moment later and pulled out the drive.

"Okay; data's been sent." Tails put the drive back on the table. "Kintobor's probably gonna call soon so that we can start planning how we can tackle this." He stepped away from the computer and moved over to the large monitor that they'd used mere days ago in order to contact Camanion, Kintobor, and a collection of other Mobians during the time that Team Flare was still planning on destroying the world.

"He probably will," Ada agreed and stepped over to the same machine. Camanion wandered out of the bathroom, glanced around, swaying slightly, and stumbled over to one of the cots in a corner, collapsing without so much as removing her boots, "Unfortunately, she probably won't be 100% for at least a day," Ada added.

"I wouldn't expect her to be." Tails gave a dry smirk.

The monitor fizzed with static, then the screen cleared to reveal Kintobor's grim face.

 _::This is worse than I thought::_

"We can do something about it," Tails responded. "I've already warned Maria - now all we have to do is find a way to help her defend against it."

 _::It can't be defended against; not with how we redesigned that program in the first place::_ Kintobor sighed and ran a hand over his bald head. _::The Dark Arms can make your mind see what they want you to see, think what they want you to think. They could create an elaborate hallucination around Maria's mind that could make her think she's still free, convince the Protocol to remain inactive for as long as they have her. The only way the Protocol would notice is if she was ordered to do something that went against her own internal programming somehow::_

"I may be able to help," Ada jumped in, "I'm not sure how the Protocol works, but my defenses could beat that. My exact defenses wouldn't work because they rely too heavily on the properties of my fusion, but something similar may work."

"Properties of your-" Clemont paused, brow furrowing in confusion. "Wait. How does _that_ work?"

"So, I'm a cyborg symbiont. I have two brains, but only one mind. Both of them work in parallel. My Mobian brain has been modified so that while it still slows my AI mind slightly, you'd have to be a full AI to two are constantly syncing and verifying each other's data. If, say, a virus injects instructions into my AI mind, my Mobian mind notices the unauthorized change and overwrites it. My creators actually attempted to create a program to make a sort of backdoor to load instructions, but due to a line in my initialization script, my defenses were brought online early. Their program was, in fact, meant to be able to punch through those defenses. If I hadn't detected it within a few more milliseconds, it probably would have worked too. Maybe some sort of syncing or verification device would work?" Ada explained.

Kintobor put a hand to his chin in thought. _::Hmm...perhaps. I would need to go over Maria's design notes again to see whether or not she would be capable of accepting such a device. As a former human who was transferred into a robotic form, there are some things which I could normally do with mechanical beings that would be near-impossible to replicate with Maria::_

"Not to mention the fact that her soul is her power core," Tails added.

 _::Yes, there is that::_ Kintobor nodded. _::So her mind is technically there, but it feeds through the mechanical systems, where the Protocol is located. As a defense for the "programming" - for lack of a better word - of her soul, it has stood well as against technological mind control quite well::_

"But it would be of little utility against a form of mind control that - for example - functioned by directly interfacing with her input/output systems to force her into a VR environment," Ada finished.

Kintobor nodded again. _::The Protocol is designed to protect against anything that might change her or her way of thinking irrevocably, such as removing or changing free will, personality, or moral code. Restricting thoughts or creating a VR environment while not physically changing the coding would not cause the Protocol to rear its head::_

"We could defend her against something like that, but Maria can create mirages," Tails pointed out. "It could interfere with that part of her abilities."

 _::Yes, quite. Which means we are going to need something else::_

"I have no idea how to do this, but what I do know is that there is a solution, and it's probably in some direction that we haven't even thought up," Ada said, "I've never seen it personally, but sis has seen _so_ many situations where a complex security system was broken by a lucky amateur, and I've seen many an unrelated problem be solved in a similar fashion. We'll just have to find the right angle."

Tails nodded. "Right. Let's get to work and try to get this done quickly. Hopefully we'll be able to get it to Maria before they try to go after her.

 **And that's the end of my bit. FWB's got one more chapter to post and the story will be complete!**

 **Thanks to FourthWallBreaker for letting my bust in on your story. I'm not in on FWB's future plans, but I know whatever the Dark Arms are planning, it'll be interesting! As for Composite, they're done with these guys. I'll post a few Demon Admin episodes and then start on my next main arc. If nothing else, FWB's taught me the value of actually having a few chapters written ahead of time!**


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